Wild Rose School Division approves 2021-22 Budget
The Board of Trustees for Wild Rose School Division has approved the district’s budget for the 2021-22 school year.
The budget includes a deficit of about $2 million that will be covered through reserves, something district officials say is not sustainable long-term as reserves are typically used to fund one-time expenses rather than staffing and ongoing programs.
Preparation of the 2021-22 Spring Budget was based on the Alberta Education Funding Model that was introduced for the 2020-21 school year. Under the new funding model, per-student funding is allocated based on a weighted moving average (WMA) system. For the 2021-22 school year, Alberta Education provided all school boards with the same operational funds received in the current (2020-21) school year.
“This was good news for our division as we would have received less funding since we had fewer students enrolled in 2020-21 than projected and we are projecting a further decline in 2021-22,” WRSD says in a release.
