Only ten years ago, Saskatchewan had the highest per-student education funding in Canada. Since that time, your government has chosen to let education funding stagnate, falling behind in real dollars while the province’s population and the number of kids in our schools have grown.

Funding shortfalls year after year have forced school divisions to increase classroom sizes, cut programs, cut support staff like educational assistants and librarians, and introduce fees for such basics as lunch-hour supervision.

These cuts have left more and more kids struggling to get the help they need – not even to excel, but simply to meet minimum requirements.

Your government has the power to change this situation. You can choose to invest in our kids again. You can help give them the world-class education they deserve. In 2023, Saskatchewan is enjoying a billion dollar surplus thanks to an increase in resource revenues. While you recently announceed of an additional $40 Million in education funding for the coming year, it falls far short of what our schools need to make up for years of underfunding.

What we are asking for:

A return to 2012/2013 levels of per-student funding (adjusted for inflation)

Consistent and predictable annual funding, allowing school divisions to budget well in advance for the coming year

Fund supports for students with special needs and learning disabities based on the actual number students with those needs in each school division

The return of control to school divisions to set the mill rate for their annual budgets

Sincerely,