Fort Vermilion School Division has adjusted to a reduction to funding of 2 million dollars with no impact to School Budgets.  The decisions made at the division level has driven more money into the classroom. 

Starting two years ago, the administrative team started to prepare for the shift and began removing division coaches and putting them into schools.  This reduced the Central Office by 10 fulltime positions.  We have never had a time where more money is in schools than ever before.  We have looked at finding efficiencies in the system to reduce unnecessary cost expenditures without impacting any classroom work.

“We know, as the FVSD Board, we have to start living within our means,” said Superintendent Mike McMann. “We need to be able to be very efficient in terms of how we spend our money so the majority of it is going directly into classrooms.”

“We anticipated a reduction of funding because of the financial picture of the government” he added. “We are really looking at how we support teachers in ways that can positively impact student achievement with literacy, numeracy, and connectivity.”

Unfortunately, school divisions across the province are also dealing with a massive 274% increase on insurance premiums – in our case, amounting to $450,000.

 “We support the government in taking bold action around some overspending in education” said McMann. “But, ultimately, we were held hostage by insurance to the tune of almost a half-million dollars. That’s really where our frustration lies.”

Ultimately, ensuring high quality education opportunities for students is FVSD’s top priority, and we believe we have achieved that by tightening our belts and thinking differently about our own budget.

“Nobody wants to pay more taxes and keep spending without revenue coming in,” said McMann.