Sask. education budget gets a passing grade from Prince Albert Catholic division

WATCH: The province has increased its education budget as it inches closer to a three-year deal with Sask. teachers. Keenan Sorokan reports.

This story originally ran in the Prince Albert Daily Herald. It’s paid for by federal Local Journalism Initiative funding and shared under a Creative Commons licence.

The Prince Albert Catholic School Division (PACSD) was pleased with the province’s 2025 budget investment in education, but said they’re still waiting for more details.

The government is investing $3.5 billion in education this budget year. That’s an increase of $183.5 million, or 5.5 per cent, over the last year. The budget funds will be used for Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 schools, early learning and childcare and libraries.

“Any investment in education is welcomed, and we’re grateful for that opportunity to have a 5.5 per cent increase in … the general education funding pool,” Prince Albert Catholic School Division director of education Lorel Trumier said.

Saskatchewan’s 27 school divisions will receive $2.4 billion in school operating funding for the 2025-26 school year, an increase of $186.4 million or 8.4 per cent. In addition to school operating investments, school infrastructure will see $191.3 million invested during 2025-26.

Trumier said that the funding will help address inflation.

“We know we need to attend to that,” she said. “That’s not something that our school division is driving in terms of costs. It’s what it is.”

Beyond that, Trumier said the division is waiting more information on other elements before commenting. She said the division has not received a budget package after Budget Day like they have in the past.

“For our school division, we’re still waiting to see how that’s going to affect us,” she explained.

The education budget includes an increase of $130 million the province says will fund the new teacher collective agreement and address the pressures of growing student enrolment and the challenges facing today’s classrooms. There is $54.4 million to address non-teacher salary increases, transportation and inflation and to implement 50 of the 200 Specialized Support Classrooms being added over the next four years.

The Prince Albert Catholic School Division has a Specialized Support Classroom at St. John School and it is not known if it is part of this announcement.

The budget also includes $54.4 million to address non-teacher salary increases, transportation and inflation and to implement 50 of the 200 Specialized Support Classrooms being added over the next four years.

An additional $2.0 million is dedicated to advancing the work of the ministry and education partners to improve Kindergarten to Grade 3 reading levels across the province. Learning to read is one of the most valuable skills developed during childhood and strong early literacy skills set the foundation for lifelong academic success.

Additionally, the 2025-26 Budget includes $4.6 million, an increase of $1.6 million, to further expand the Mental Health Capacity Building initiative to more schools.

The Catholic Division also has Mental Health Capacity Building at St. John and Trumier said though it is not in writing she understood that initiative is continuing.

“That’s positive as well,” she said. “We were under the understanding that that would occur…. We also understand that it might shift, because it was in agreement with SHA and education. I understand that perhaps that may have shifted to (the) education envelope a little bit more, but again, we’re waiting for some of the details.”

Trumier said that the division has inquired about when they would receive the information and has received no definitive answer from the Ministry of Education.

“We’re all waiting with bated breath. I can assure you,” she said.

“This may delay us depending on when it comes, but we’re obviously, overall, really just grateful that there is that increase (and) that it’s supposed to attend to the inflation, enrollment growth, that kind of thing.”

The Budget also included $65.0 million for Preventative Maintenance and Renewal projects. This is an increase of 30 per cent, or $15.0 million, over last year’s budget to allow boards of education and the conseil scolaire to maintain existing facilities.

“There was some shifts to the distribution model that will, I think, impact our school division, so that’s going to be on the positive side of things as well,” Trumier said. “We’ll work to look at all of the element plans for next year, but obviously we’re not in a position where it’s a negative number with cuts. That’s always good news when some of those enrollment and inflationary numbers are attended to in the budget.”

The overall school capital budget for 2025-26 is $191.3 million to continue to respond to education infrastructure needs. This includes $28.5 million for relocatable classrooms to help address growth, ongoing funding for 21 new or consolidated schools, three major renovations and three minor capital renewal projects underway across Saskatchewan.

There are no projects in the Prince Albert Catholic School Division or Saskatchewan Rivers School Division included in capital announcements.

The Saskatchewan Rivers School Division will address the budget after their regular meeting on Monday, March 24.

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