February 1, 2024
Stability Appreciated After Yo-Yo of Annual Funding Announcements
The Manitoba government has announced a 3.4% increase in funding for public schools in 2024/2025.
“We’ve argued strongly over the past seven years for stable funding and we are happy to see that reflected in this announcement,” says Manitoba Teachers’ Society President Nathan Martindale.
Combined with this week’s commitment to a province-wide school nutrition program, the total increase for 2024/2025 will be 5.1%.
“The insecurity around the yearly yo-yo of funding announcements causes tremendous stress to students and teachers, not to mention divisions which absolutely need stable funding to deliver programs to kids, says Martindale.”
School divisions across the province will start to publicly report K-8 class numbers, next fall. Martindale says extra attention to class-size issues is also appreciated. “We like the direction of this initiative. Our members have made it clear that current class sizes, in many cases, are unmanageable.”