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Over 100 parents/guardians, students, staff, and community members gathered at the Norberry Board Office and online with the Senior Leadership Team and Trustees on Tuesday Feb. 27, 2024, to review the 2024-25 draft budget.  

“Balancing the needs of our growing student population with fiscal responsibility has been a key focus in developing this draft budget,” said Jamie Rudnicki, Secretary Treasurer. “We've carefully considered the costs associated with maintaining and enhancing our educational programs and services to ensure that a fast-growing student population has the support it needs to thrive.” 

¹ú²ú´«Ã½ is proposing a 7.5 per cent tax increase to property owners living within the Division, which reflects an average increase of $149.88 to the property owner.  This proposed increase will address enrolment growth while working to reduce average class size and staff to student ratios, support students with complex specialized needs, and invest in our aging school buildings. 

“We understand the needs of our parents and families,” said Chris Sigurdson, Vice-Chair of the ¹ú²ú´«Ã½ (¹ú²ú´«Ã½) Board of Trustees. “We are very committed to students and are proud of the fact that we follow and look at the data before we make decisions to ensure continued success.” 

Draft Budget Highlights: 

• An increase in the maintenance and local infrastructure budget totalling $14,240,191, signaling a commitment to repairing and upgrading aging elementary and high school buildings.
• An addition of six new bus routes to accommodate growing enrolment, bringing the total to 91 routes. 
• An increase of 39.31 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers and 27.34 non-teaching staff FTE to support over 900 additional students projected for 2024-2025, with a significant portion of staffing going to address growing enrolment and needs in our high schools. 
• The expansion of Full-Day Kindergarten (FDK) from 9 schools to 30 schools offering early years programming and the required additional staff. 

Included in the proposed budget is the announcement from the Manitoba government to invest 1.5 million new dollars in our community to continue building a universal nutrition program in schools. ¹ú²ú´«Ã½ applauds the Manitoba government for addressing student hunger in schools which breaks down one significant barrier to learning. 

After a decade long conversation, ¹ú²ú´«Ã½ started to introduce FDK in schools in 2016. Currently, a third of ¹ú²ú´«Ã½ schools offer FDK. With this draft budget, ¹ú²ú´«Ã½ would build on the existing capacity to ensure a positive transition for the remaining two thirds of schools. ¹ú²ú´«Ã½ is committed to collaborating with our childcare providers to successfully implement this proposed change.  

“We look to our community for how we can improve the lived experience in schools,” said Pam Kolochuk, ¹ú²ú´«Ã½ Trustee. “Full-Day K in every school for every child means we are helping our community, helping parents go back to work, helping childcare centres create more spaces for pre-school aged children, and we’re helping our youngest learners who have been most impacted by the pandemic start their learning journey in school for the full day.” 

“The Board looked to ¹ú²ú´«Ã½’s Multi-Year Strategic Plan (MYSP) for 2023-2027 when preparing the draft budget for the upcoming fiscal year,” said Christian Michalik, Superintendent. “Full-Day Kindergarten has been life changing for our youngest learners and their families. This investment allows us to take an important step in partnering with our childcare providers alongside the Manitoba and Federal governments in solving our childcare needs in ¹ú²ú´«Ã½. If adopted, this draft budget brings movement on strategic action 4.3: implementing universal Full-Day Kindergarten and a more equitable approach to before-and-after school care in all elementary schools.” 

If you missed the Public Draft Budget Consultation you can . If you would like to provide feedback on the budget, please visit ¹ú²ú´«Ã½’s Contact Us page.