WINNIPEG -- The Seven Oaks School Division 2020/21 draft budget proposes a tax decrease for homeowners in the area.

According to a press release, the special requirement will be increased by two per cent, but the average home valued at $305,000 will see a tax decrease of $3.

The draft budget, tabled at a public meeting on Monday, proposes an overall spending increase of 1.3 per cent, which will go toward wages, utilities, occupational and physical therapy services, and 5 additional teaching jobs.

  • Some of the spending reductions proposed in the budget include:
  • IT and maintenance budgets will be frozen;
  • Summer programs will see reductions but will still operate;
  • Almost all staffing levels will see reductions, which will cause changes to class size, courses, and student support;
  • Trustee and administrator professional development will be reduced; and
  • Parents will have to pay for transportation for students in Kindergarten to Grade 3 who live 1.2 to 1.6 kilometres from the school.

The province’s mandate of reducing overall management by 15 per cent will be achieved by moving four management positions to service roles.

The school divisions enrolment is expected to increase by 250 students, and there are also additional costs related to the opening of its 26th school École Templeton.

“The draft budget addresses the challenges of continued enrolment growth, the opening of the division’s 26th school, limited provincial funding and continuing inequity due to an unfair provincial funding formula and Seven Oaks lack of commercial assessment,” the release said.