Budgeting in Manitoba school divisions is guided by the Financial Reporting and Accounting in Manitoba Education (FRAME) system. FRAME provides a standardized method for accounting and financial reporting across all school divisions throughout the province. More information on this can be found on the Manitoba Government website: https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/finance/
For Mountain View School Division, the budget process begins in mid-October when the Board of Trustee reviews timelines and administration begins budget preparations. In November, the Board seeks input from employee groups and public pre-budgets discussions take place with Parent Advisory Council’s and other stakeholders in early December. Historically Mountain View School Division has held a public forum where people could attend and participate online or in-person. Due to low attendance at these events, the Division will only seek input via an online survey this year. This is on a trial basis and will be reviewed again next year. In January, the Board will begin their more detailed discussions in anticipation of the provincial funding announcement being released by the end of the month. Once the amount being provincially funded is known, the discussions continue. The public is then informed through another public budget forum of what is included in the draft budget and provided an opportunity to supply feedback. Special levies are due to municipalities by March 15th and the budget is approved and submitted to the Province by March 31st.
Revenue is received from three main categories and in our previous budget were allocated as follows:
Provincial – 58.24%
Revenue from property taxation - 37.29%
All other funding - 4.48%
When it comes to the provincial funding, we will not know until the funding announcement at the end of January what amount is going to be allocated to Mountain View School Division. Add to that the uncertainty of what a promised revised funding model will look like and mean for our division, and the budgeting process tends to have its challenges.
Salaries and benefits make up 82% of the budgeted expenses. Fortunately for the 2025-2026 budget, we can have some certainty in where the teachers’ salaries will be, however, contracts for support staff expire on December 31, 2025, leaving six months of unknown salary increases to include in the budget. With such a large percentage of the budget being used to fulfill contractual obligations for salaries, there is very little room for movement on all the other expenses required to operate a school division.
Many of the expenses that school divisions incur in a year are not within their control, , for example increasing insurance rates, fuel costs and Hydro. It is important to keep in mind that the teachers’ contracts are now being negotiated at a provincial level and school divisions have limited input in the increases they will be required to pay on a go-forward basis.
Capital funding is provided by the provincial government based on their priorities and a five-year capital plan that is submitted annually by the school division. There are several categories including structural, access, roofing, additions/renovations, system replacement and of course new schools. The province has not started many new projects in school divisions recently. However, this needs to change as there is a lot of aging infrastructure. Getting ahead of the curve on some projects would be the preference rather than having to reactively repair and replace infrastructure as things fail.
There are many factors taken into consideration when setting a budget for a school division. However, resources need to be allocated in such a way that they align with the Strategic Plan as set out by the Board. To view the 2024-2025 Strategic Plan, please visit www.mvsd.ca.
Your input is valued, and we encourage everyone to stay tuned to our website and social media accounts to ensure you do not miss your opportunity to have a say.
Submitted by Lori Slepicka, MVSD Secretary-Treasurer.