School division waits for better funding formula

As the Hanover School Division continues to educate a growing number of students, Superintendent Shelley Amos says they are still waiting for a new funding model that would see Manitoba school divisions receive provincial funding in real time. 

“There is a gap, a year gap,” Amos explains. “They fund us based on September 30th numbers. And so right now, we're being funded as of last year's September 30th numbers. And so that creates a bit of a gap for us, or any school division, when you're in a state of growth that you don't capture all the funding in the current year. 

As of November 30th, 2023, there are 368 more students in Hanover schools than what the division is funded for. 

With consistent growth each year, this leaves the Hanover School Division without adequate funding, year after year, Amos notes. 

The provincial government created a consultation team in 2021 to help develop the new education funding model in Manitoba, with the goal of ensuring equitable funding so that all students could succeed regardless of where they live, their background or their individual circumstances. 

“There has been a lot of talk about a new funding formula but that has yet to come to fruition and we will see what our new NDP government does with that,” Amos says. 

The new model was expected to be implemented for the 2023-24 school year, but this was delayed. 

Amos says Hanover is watching and waiting to find out what the new government will do to improve education funding. 

“We don’t have any details coming out yet,” she says. “We know that they've committed to continuing to look at funding for school divisions and we're waiting eagerly to see. Typically, we have a funding announcement prior to the end of January, and they believe they've committed to that. So yet to be seen what those details look like.” 

The current funding formula of using only September 30th enrollment means a year delay in getting funding to divisions. Hanover is proposing the province also use January enrollment numbers which would cut the funding gap in half, with only a 6-month delay. 

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