Small class sizes, support for students and teachers, and adequate resources for learning a priority
With student numbers increasing by about 100 students a year, 15 schools, 47 bus routes and aging infrastructure, the job of balancing the Lord Selkirk School Division’s(LSSD) budget is an important one. To make sure that it’s done with our community’s priorities in mind, the school division hosted its 2026/2027 LSSD Virtual Budget Forum on Feb. 25.
The meeting began with LSSD Board of Trustees Chair, Lena Kublick, giving the Land Acknowledgement, followed by her making introductions.
LSSD Superintendent Jerret Long then took the floor for opening remarks.
“We know that education is a shared responsibility, and tonight’s forum allows us to have a commitment to transparency, to accountability and to meaningful public engagement. The budget we’re discussing is more than just financial documents. It’s a reflection of our collective values and our priorities, and it represents how we support student learning,” he said.
He acknowledged the balancing act of creating a budget that serves the community best.
“Developing a balanced and sustainable budget is increasingly complex, and like many school divisions, we are navigating the rising costs involved in education, changing students’ needs, and funding pressures, while trying to maintain high-quality education for all of our learners. So, with that in mind, your perspectives, questions, and ideas are essential as we work together through the challenges,” said Long.
Kelly McDonald, LSSD’s Secretary-Treasurer, then took over to talk numbers.
“Currently, as of our current school year, our enrollment was sitting at 4154 students. For the next school year, we anticipate that this number will go up by an additional 100 students. This year, we went up by about 150 students, and last year was around 100 students as well. So, we seem to be seeing this increase each year of approximately 100 students to the division,” she said.
By the numbers, the school division also has 15 schools and one Adult Learning Centre, 749.79 FTE staff total, the geographical area of the school division is 1,492 km, which means 47 bus routes and over 1 million kilometres driven through 6 RMs/cities. It’s also 1 of 2 divisions in the province with a pool, the schools are an average of 60 years old, and the division provides administrative support to four additional programs. These are some important factors that affect how dollars are spent in the LSSD.
“Some of the challenges that we’re facing currently, right now, is that we’re seeing increasing enrollment, and to work against that is that we’re not seeing a significant increase to our funding,” she said.
An increase of 100 students to the current total of 4154 represents a 2.4 per cent increase in the student population. McDonald explained that the school division is limited in funding to just a one per cent increase to base funding as, though the province announced an overall increase to education of 3.5 per cent this year which is the average across all divisions, specific school divisions vary. This means that despite the funding dollars increasing provincially by 3.5 per cent, the school division’s dollars per student is less when compared to previous years.
The school division is also seeing pressure when it comes to costs going up.
“We’re seeing increasing costs on everything that we’re purchasing, as well as many of our staff salaries and many benefits associated with it, and just regular increases in technology and our learning resources and materials. I just (want to) highlight that the consumer price index for 2025 hit 2.7 per cent, and that was significantly higher than the 1.1 that the Province saw back in 2024, and so, we’re seeing all those costs, just like anybody who might go to the grocery store, we’re seeing those costs as well,” she said.
McDonald also mentioned that with the average age of schools in the division being 60 years, the division is having to rely on the province to provide funding for capital projects.
Some highlights of the current school year’s budget include 3.5 FTE more teachers to schools due to enrollment increases, 10.0 FTE in educational assistants due to increasing needs, and 10.0 FTE in guest teachers to address substitute shortages. There was also the purchase of a lift for the bus garage.
“In the LSSD before the budgeting process starts, they put out a survey that talks about priorities in education. The most frequently mentioned priorities include support for students and teachers, smaller class sizes, and adequate resources for learning which is reflected in the budget.
“We received 216 responses this year. Excellent turnout for it. We appreciate all the comments,” said McDonald.
The three things they saw the most in this survey were support for students and teachers, desire for smaller class sizes, and the need for adequate resources for learning.
For the 2026/27 school year, the draft budget includes increases to address these needs as well as the realities that the school division faces, including adding 9.5 FTE teachers, adding 12.0 FTE educational assistants, purchasing one new bus, and property taxes due to the City of Selkirk’s special service levies.
All of this resulted in an increase in the mill rate which residents will see reflected in their propety tax. Last year the mill rate was 12.6388 and this year’s mill rate is 13.8867.
If you missed the LSSD Virtual Budget Forum you can watch the recording of the presentation at www.lssd.ca/…/forum.
You can also check out the highlights of the budget by visiting www.lssd.ca/…/budget.
