By Joel van der Veen

WARMAN — Prairie Spirit School Division (PSSD) has reversed a recent decision on band programs at its schools, announcing last week that the programs would be funded for the coming year after all.

The announcement came almost a week after the division had said it would cut funding for instrumental band programs for the 2015-16 school year, as part of its efforts to handle a $7.1-million funding shortfall.

The decision would have affected band programs across the division, including Dundurn Elementary School, which offers the program in grades 5 and 6, and Hanley Composite School, which offers band to students in grades 5 through 12.

Students who completed a Band 10 credit this year would have the opportunity to finish Band 20 and/or 30 credits, but the existing program would gradually be replaced with a broader musical education program.

The division allowed for the possibility of extracurricular band practices to be organized by “interested teachers” but said bussing would not be provided for those practices.

The PSSD then found itself caught in something of a political firestorm, as NDP education critic Trent Wotherspoon said the cuts were a symptom of underfunding by the Saskatchewan Party government and demanded that funding be restored.

Meanwhile, education minister Don Morgan defended his party’s record and argued that Prairie Spirit’s own board was to blame for the division’s budget woes.

The division announced the reversal of its decision in a letter to parents dated June 3 that was leaked to the StarPhoenix and later made public.

PSSD director of education John Kuzbik told the Leader on Thursday that the division received plenty of feedback on the issue, much of it from students.

“I really admired how the students went about sharing their displeasure,” he said. “They were respectful . . . They wanted to make it clear that it was a passionate area.”

He also said the response stretched beyond parents and students to include members of the local music community.

Ultimately, he said, the division changed its plan once it determined it would not be able to provide a sufficient replacement program for next year.

The board made the decision at its June 1 meeting to “continue to provide financial support to keep the band music programs operating in their current locations,” according to the letter to parents.

“We had to rethink what we were offering,” he explained. “As we got deeper into it, we realized we weren’t ready to offer an alternative program that could generate as rich an experience as the band program could offer.”

The board had committed not to eliminate programs, but to reduce or replace them; it was determined that the proposed plan would have broken that commitment.

Kuzbik said the division has received feedback on the other cutbacks it has made, so the volume of response on the band matter was close to what they had anticipated.

He said the plan moving forward is to attempt to grow the current program to attract more students, to make it more economical and to see whether it can be expanded to toher schools.

Figures released by the school division last month indicate that fewer students are continuing with the current band program, with numbers dropping off dramatically between Grade 5 and Grade 12.

Meanwhile, the division is still grappling with a major funding shortfall, which must be addressed in time for the budget to be adopted on July 15.

Kuzbik said the division staff and board are working closely together to find possible areas for restructuring or cost savings, adding, “That’s just the nasty work that we’re involved in.”

“It’s really unfortunate that we have to go into making program reductions and staffing reductions because of the big shortfall,” he continued, adding that he feels the division’s expectations are not “out of line with what other school divisions are able to do.”

Kuzbik said he hopes the commotion over the band program has put a spotlight on the division’s situation and the decisions they are forced to make.

A statement issued by the division identified “inadequate and inequitable funding” as the root cause of its current financial situation. Kuzbik said more information on possible reductions may be made public next week.

Reductions have already been made within certain areas, including teacher-librarians, career and work experience, technology, division office staff and educational associate support, according to the division.

“We may have the ability to make choices,” read the letter to parents, “but there are no good choices to be made given the inadequate funding that the school division is receiving from the province.”

The division also expressed its thanks to those who provided feedback, apologizing for “any emotion and hardship” experienced by affected families and asking them to direct their voices of the Ministry of Education.

Parent meetings scheduled for June 8 and 10 have been postponed until September.

By Joel van der Veen

WARMAN — School band programs for students in grades 5 through 10 will be among the casualties of a $7.1-million funding shortfall faced by Prairie Spirit School Division (PSSD) for the coming year.

PSSD announced in a bulletin sent to parents at the beginning of last week that as of this fall, instrumental band programs for those grades would no longer be funded across the division, which covers 45 schools in the communities surrounding Saskatoon, including Hanley Composite School and Dundurn Elementary School.

“Due to the major financial shortfall being experienced by our school division . . . we are faced with tough decisions regarding the allocation of available funds,” the bulletin read.

The bulletin explained that the current instrumental band program would be replaced with a broader musical education program over the next couple of years.

Starting in September, curricular after-school band practices will no longer be held for grades 5 through 10.

The bulletin noted that interested teachers may choose to organize extracurricular band practices, but stated that bussing for band students for those practices would not be provided.

Students who earned a Band 10 credit this year will be given the opportunity to complete Band 20 and/or Band 30 credits over the next couple of years, through a combination of classroom time and independent study.

These changes will have a direct impact on students in Hanley and Dundurn, where instrumental band programs are currently part of the curriculum.

Division staff confirmed that Dundurn Elementary School offers band for students in grades 5 and 6, while Hanley Composite School offers the program between grades 5 and 12.

PSSD staff members were not available for comment last week, but communications consultant Brenda Erickson provided a written statement to the Leader.

According to the division, the proposed change to the band program is “one of many reductions . . . that have been undertaken” in response to the funding shortfall, including cutbacks to staff and administration at the division office in Warman.

The bulletin to parents acknowledged that under the current program, fewer children continue to study music into their middle years and high school.

According to the division, band programs at the Grade 5 level attract from 38 to 64 per cent of students, but numbers drop off dramatically for students in grades 9 through 12, where band program enrolment sits at between 2 and 6 per cent.

“We know that students continue to have a strong interest in music in their lives, but they often are unable to find appealing or feasible ways to connect it to their experiences in school by the time they reach the secondary level,” read the bulletin.

“In making these changes, the school division hopes to positively impact the music education of a greater number of students.”

PSSD board chairman Larry Pavloff told the Leader last month that administrators were working “feverishly” to address the funding shortfall while minimizing the impact on students.

He said the province’s educational funding model was to blame, and that because of increased salaries for teachers negotiated by the province, the division was effectively left with the same amount of money to cover its growing expenses each year.

Prairie Spirit has made more than $2 million in staffing and programming cuts over the last two years, while $3 million in reserve funding was used to balance last year’s budget.

For the full story, please see the June 1 edition of The Davidson Leader.

By Joel van der Veen

WARMAN — The board chairman for Prairie Spirit School Division said it’s not yet clear how a $7 million funding shortfall for the coming year will affect individual schools.

A bulletin sent to parents by the division last month indicated that the shortfall — representing 6 per cent of the overall budget — was on the horizon, and greater than initially expected.

Board chairman Larry Pavloff said administrators are working “feverishly” to determine how to address the gap while reducing the repercussions for students, but added that more details wouldn’t be available until later in the spring.

“The impact on each individual school should be known in the middle of June,” he said. “We’re trying to minimize the impact on our student learners and adult learners.”

For the 2015-16 school year, the division — which covers 45 schools in the communities surrounding Saskatoon, including Hanley Composite School and Dundurn Elementary School — received a funding increase of $3.6 million.

Pavloff argued that this essentially covers the cost of teachers’ salaries as negotiated by the province, leaving the division with effectively the same funding they received the previous year.

This means there’s no new funding to cover other costs, like higher enrolment levels, inflation or contractual obligations.

As Pavloff said, “We have no way of spending that, because that money is already spent.”

The chairman said the division has pledged that no current full-time staff will lose their jobs, and that they hoped that attrition through retirement would help to bridge the gap.

Pavloff said the current situation began in 2012, when the province’s new education funding model came into effect, developed over the course of three years.

He said the model did not reflect the reality facing Prairie Spirit, and that problems were soon detected.

Transitional funding was introduced to help divisions maintain services and education prior to the introduction of the new model, and divisions have since been told to tailor their budgets to fit.

Pavloff said that the division protested at the time, but “the ministry hasn’t budged on that.”

According to the bulletin issued by Prairie Spirit, it is one of the province’s lowest-funded school divisions on a per capita basis. Funding per student has decreased from $10,386 in 2011-12 to $9,783 in 2014-15.

The division also has one of the highest pupil-to-teacher ratios in the province, which has grown as the board has attempted to cope with the funding shortfall.

Prairie Spirit has made more than $2 million in staffing and programming cuts over the last two years, while $3 million in reserve funding was used to balance last year’s budget.

For the 2013-14 school year, Prairie Spirit had a graduation rate of 87.0 per cent, compared to the provincial average of 74.7 per cent.

At that time, according to the division, assurance was given that the funding model would be adjusted to address the inequity, but nothing has happened on that front since.

The bulletin also said the shortfall would strain its ability to maintain graduation rates, results in literary and math, and success amongst its First Nations and Métis students.

Pavloff said the conflicting information has led to confusion among parents. The division held its annual general meeting on Waldheim on April 29, following which the board answered some questions about the budget.

Attempts to reach the Ministry of Education for contact late last week were unsuccessful.