Grade 8 home economics, industrial arts programs cut in Saskatoon Public Schools budget

Cuts coming to Saskatoon classrooms From CTV Saskatoon’s Matt Young: Saskatoon Public Schools has approved a budget including cuts to programs and staff.

The Saskatoon Board of Education has approved the 2019-20 budget - one that will cut programming and make staffing changes.

The budget will see 18 teacher-librarian positions cut, along with 15 English as additional language teachers. Grade 8 home economics and industrial arts programs will also be eliminated. Affected staff from those changes will be re-assigned, the school division says.

Other positions to be cut include nine secretaries and five positions at Central Office, four of which will be from attrition.

All non-salary budgets across the division will be reduced by six per cent, including school budgets. The board will draw $1.5 million from its reserves.

To address enrolment growth, the board will add 15 full time teachers and 17 full time educational assistants. Other staffing additions include one special education consultant, four resource room teachers, two special education program teachers and one rotational library technician.

In a news release, Saskatoon Public Schools said the province provided a funding increase of 1.5 per cent, but it isn’t enough to address projected enrollment.

“If you look over five years, our enrollment has gone up about 10 per cent, give or take a little bit, and our funding has gone up about 3.1 percent,” said board chair Ray Morrison said.

Morrison said the budget will affect students in the classroom.