Manitoba school division dipping into surplus to balance its budget

An empty classroom is seen in this undated file photo.

The Louis Riel School Division (LRSD) is tapping into its accumulated surplus to help bridge the budget gap.

On Wednesday, the school division announced that its board of trustees approved a budget of more than $224 million for the 2023-2024 school year. LRSD noted that its expenditures exceed its funding, so it is using nearly $2.5 million from the division’s accumulated surplus.

The division said this is the first time since it was established in 2002 that it’s needed to use surplus funds to balance the budget.

The superintendent of the school division, Christian Michalik, said using the surplus is “not sustainable and very concerning.”

“We appreciate the funding this year is more predictable, in that the Manitoba government is making the one-time funding provided to school divisions in the last two years permanent,” Michalik said in a news release.

“However, given the impacts of the chronic underfunding that preceded the pandemic and the spiraling of pressures and needs, it is still insufficient.”

The school division noted that funding has not kept up with inflation, enrolment and growing needs, and that it continues to deal with pandemic-related pressures.

“The biggest challenge in designing the budget for 2023-2024 has been the enduring challenge of the last few years; balancing our response to the pressures we face with our ability to pay the cost of meeting those needs,” said Jamie Rudnicki, LRSD secretary treasurer.

LRSD’s 2023-2024 budget also includes additional classroom staff, which will bring the division to a total of 640 full-time educational assistants and 1,206 teachers.