An increase of $3.3 million is coming to School District 72’s (SD72) operating grant for the 2024-25 school year.
Kevin Patrick, secretary-treasurer, told the district’s board during a meeting on April 9 that the district is expecting an operating grant of $72,472,825 from the Ministry of Education and Child Care, on top of a base allocation of $2 million due to per pupil funding and a forecast of 54 more full-time students. Another increase, of $571,853, is expected to fund students with unique needs.
“Just before the spring break, and they (the ministry) always do it the last day before spring, they presented updated funding for our school district. So we update our enrollment, which then updates what funding we’re going to get next year. So we base our budget for next year off this funding,” says Patrick. “When we get actual numbers, all of these numbers will adjust a little bit but we’re currently within our budget feedback process.”
Geographic factors also play a part in the finding. Due to the district’s distance from any major population centres, the district will be given an extra $552,990, plus $109, 207 for targeted funding for the Indigenous Education Advisory Council.
“Now, this is the surprise,” says Patrick. “The unique geographic factors for us generally doesn’t change year-t0-year, it’s just very minor. It’s a little bit based on enrollment. A big part of it is how far you are from major metropolitan centres factoring in like the size of your district, extra shipping costs, extra heating costs, cold area, and so forth.”