School Divisions will receive a one-time $20 million investment for the 2022-23 school year to assist with rising fuel and insurance costs.

As a result of these additional funds, school divisions can prevent inflationary costs from diverting resources away from classrooms.

Education Minister Dustin Duncan said the government recognizes the impact rising costs across the country will have on schools.

“Now that school board budgets have been submitted, we have weighed the impact of fuel and insurance costs on their operations and are in a position to provide further assistance to divisions.”

Duncan said the money would help school divisions with rising fuel and insurance costs.

“$15 million is being earmarked towards transportation. We looked at what school divisions had spent last year, we looked at the average cost they would have paid last year, and we are trying to forecast what the average cost is going to be this year,” he said. “The remaining $5 million is going to be based on what school divisions have provided to us in terms of the increased premiums that they are paying.”

Duncan said that school divisions must submit another budget to the Ministry.

“We’re asking school divisions, based on the funding each of them will receive, to submit an amended budget, which we will then review,” he said. “This does give time in the event that school divisions are going to be using the funding to hire to go through that process and hopefully have those additional positions in place, maybe not for the beginning of the school year but early in the school year.”

As for other problems that school divisions have, such as a lack of staffing, Duncan said he would keep an open dialogue with the Saskatchewan School Boards Association.

“Certainly know that this is not going to address all the concerns they have talked about, but school divisions have to make decisions with the dollars they do have.”

With this additional investment, school operating funding exceeds $2 billion for the first time in the province’s history.

Breakdown of what each school division will receive: