Rocky View Schools approves over $300 million budget for 2024/25 year

Rocky View Schools has submitted its 2024/25 budget to Alberta Education. The total budget is $326.6 million.

Annually, school divisions are required to submit their budgets for the upcoming school year to Alberta Education by May 31st. Since the Board and Board Budget Committee received the funding profile from the province government in mid-March, they have been working on developing the 2024–2025 RVS budget.

In the funding profile, student funding will be increased by 2.7 per cent for the next school year but does not include funding for capital maintenance and renewal projects. RVS school division is projecting an increase of 2.6 per cent in student enrollment next school year.

Here is a breakdown of the budget according to Rocky View Schools:

Screenshot taken from the RVS presentation.

The screenshot was taken from the RVS presentation.

Budget priorities were set by the Board to aid in directing the division budget's development. These include funding schools directly to help students learn, supporting the health of students and staff, improving the facilities and technological infrastructure, and setting aside 0.5 to 1 percent for an operating reserve. According to the administration and Trustees, they were able to address these priorities with the budget.

Trustees did share their concerns about needing even more funding than they are currently receiving from the province to maintain service levels and stay up to date on the growing student population. According to RVS, from the 2017-18 school year to this year, they have seen a 26.5 per cent student enrolment increase.

Ward one trustee Shali Baziuk commended everybody in the effort to make sure the budget priorities were met but were unhappy that they had to use some of their reserves to address additional needs that were not met by the funding from the province.

Board Chair Fiona Gilbert put the motion forward that the Board of Trustees approve the 2024/25 Budget as presented and directs the superintendent to submit the budget to Alberta Education by tomorrow. The motion was passed with all the trustees approving it.

Gilbert finished off by saying the board will continue to advocate for ongoing increases to provincial funding to ensure that all Rocky View School students receive the education that they deserve.

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