Saskatoon Public Schools cutback plan not shared by other urban divisions

Saskatoon Public Schools officials say they're being forced to cut dozens of positions for the coming year, but that may not be the case in other big urban divisions.

"At this point, we don't anticipate any cuts. We expect we'll be hiring," said Derrick Kunz, an official with the Greater Saskatoon CatholicSchools division.

Saskatoon Public Schools division officials, however, say they need to save $5 million to balance their budget.

Theirplan, which requires final approval in June,would chop each school's budget by an average of six per cent. It would cut 15 English as an additional language teaching positions, 19 teacher-librarian jobs and many other positions.

The division also plans to dip into its reserves by $1.5 million.An official said no teachers will lose their jobs their positions may be eliminated, but they'll be reassigned.

Kunz said the Greater Saskatoon CatholicSchools division could definitely use more core funding, but he appreciates the extra provincial government funding promised in the latest provincial budget.

"Regina Public Schools is not considering any significant reductions for the 2019-2020 school year," said Terry Lazarou of the Regina Public Schools division.

Twylla West of theRegina Catholic School Division said that division hasn't made afinal decision, butthere are currently no plans to eliminate positions.

"It won't be easy this year. We do have a lot more students coming in this year and we're going to have to find a way to pay for additional staffing to teach them," West said.

All other divisions contacted saidfunding is inadequate, particularly with their growing populations of new Canadians and other students.

But beyond Saskatoon Public Schools, none of the other divisions in Saskatoon and Regina saidthey plan to make any cuts.

An official with the rural Prairie Spirit School Division outside Saskatoon echoed those comments.

Most said they already madesome difficult choices over the past two years as budgets tightened.