Manitoba school divisions now have the information they need to complete their budgets for the new school year. 

In today’s funding announcement, the Manitoba government says it is increasing operating funding for public schools by 3.4 per cent for the 24/25 year. 

Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Nello Altomare says this is an amount higher than the provincial inflation rate. 
     
“After years of feeling the pinch, schools and kids deserve a government that’s ready to fund them at the level they deserve,” he says.  

According to the Province, the 3.4 per cent operating funding increase addresses growing enrolment and supports classroom needs, while providing higher levels of funding to divisions with high enrolment growth and divisions with a smaller tax base. 

The Hanover School Division will receive $69.6 million for the 2024-25 school year, which is $4.6 million more than last year’s funding. This comes to an increase of 7.1 percent. 

The Seine River School Division will get $39.4 million, an increase of 2.1 million from last year. This works out to a 5.8 percent increase in total funding from a year ago. 

As announced earlier this week, the province is investing $30 million to deliver a universal nutrition program in schools across Manitoba. 

Altomare says the Manitoba government is also investing $3 million to reduce class sizes for early-years. 

Meantime, the Province confirmed it is developing a new funding model for public education for the next fiscal year. 

The 2024-25 funding of schools is an overall increase of $104.2 million that includes: 

  • $51.5 million in operating costs for public schools
  • $3 million toward smaller class sizes
  • $27.5 million for nutrition programming, which builds on the 2023-24 current funding for a total of $30 million
  • $11.3 million for capital support, which includes principal and interest costs related to building schools; and 
  • $10.9 million to independent schools as per their funding agreement. 

-With files from Candace Derksen

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