After seeking input from the public, parents and students, the Red River Valley School Division (RRVSD) board of trustees used survey results to guide decision-making for the $41 million 2025-26 school year budget unveiled at a public meeting last week.
The budget prioritizes salary increases for most staff and bus drivers, including the hire of additional support staff, and providing more training days and educational resources.
Increased support was requested for literacy, numeracy, and speech language pathology, among other student supports.
Outgoing superintendent Brad Curtis feels the budget is directly correlated to what the board heard from parents and staff and is a good reflection of what is happening in the school system.
“The budget hits a lot of areas for almost every staff group across the division,” he said. “We did a good job listening to survey feedback and can address many of the concerns. Ultimately this is great for the kids.”
The bulk of expenditures for the division come from salaries and equipment for K-12 classrooms, representing 57 per cent of the budget at $23.4M. Funding is allocated to student support services at $6.8M, maintenance at $3.7M, and transportation at $3.6M, among other expenses. The RRVSD maintains nine schools and two bus garages, and supports four Hutterite colony schools.
Survey results requested increased support to regular instruction, increased capability of PowerSchool for parents, and additional administrative support.
Budget changes will include the hiring and training of several new staff members, including tech and payroll support and three educational assistants to work directly with students with support from divisional speech language pathologists.
The opportunity for in-person training will be augmented following budget cuts during the pandemic to include additional professional development training and treaty training and allow staff to spend time together and get to know one another again.
Budget support will be provided to cover instrument rental fees and offer new band programs in Oak Bluff and Starbuck schools. Transportation will see additional bus monitors, hiring of a spare, full-time bus driver, two additional hours of admin work, and a five per cent raise for all bus drivers.
Five per cent salary increases will also be seen for support staff and 3.5 per cent for teacher salaries.
Curtis noted those increases are most welcome.
“They have been hardest hit by inflation. Since coming into my position eight years ago, we’ve had the difficult decision to cut something every year. I’ve always insisted there be no cuts from the classroom and so we had to look everywhere else,” he said. “We want quality staff. Support staff are not unionized and a salary increase shows the division’s commitment to quality.”
Revenue for the division comes from three sources: the province, the federal government, and municipal taxes.
Provincial funding will increase 1.2 per cent over the previous year to $14.6 million.
The special levy helps balance the budget and will increase by 11.32 per cent following property value assessment increases, an average increase of 18 per cent seen across the division. This levy more than covers expenses, resulting in a decreased mill rate of 5.75 per cent to 11.3 mills in 2025.
Although the school tax rebate, providing a 50 per cent rebate on school taxes for residential and 10 per cent for commercial properties is being discontinued, the 50 per cent rebate will remain in effect for farm properties. The Education Property Tax Credit is being replaced with the Homeowners Affordability Tax Credit to a maximum of $1,500.
