Increased enrolment

The Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools division is facing something of a double-edge sword situation with the new 2016-17 school year.

The division, which includes schools in Innisfail and Olds, has seen a four per cent enrolment increase.

Second-term chairman Guy Pellietier says while having more students in the division is positive it also creates pressures.

“Likely our biggest challenge this year is the growth in student population,” Pellietier told the Gazette. “We continue to have space issues in most of our schools.

“We are up close to four per cent in student population this year. What we are doing to address that in a few schools is to add portables (including in Olds). Portables are part of every division in Alberta.”

There are about 9,400 students and about 1,000 staff members in the division.

Existing staff should be able to accommodate the increase in student numbers, he said.

“We have been able to find room for them (students) and to get adequate staffing,” he said. “It's an exciting year and we have a good group in place.”

The division will be opening two new schools in 2017, one in Blackfalds and one in Red Deer.

“They will take students in September 2017,” he said.

Another area of challenge for the division this school year will be in the transportation department, he said.

“Transportation is always a tough one that most boards have to finance through other means,” he said. “We are no different. We lose money on our transportation every year, but we've got an efficient crew and we do work collaboratively with Chinook's Edge School Division and the Wildrose Division (in Rocky Mountain House) doing some collaborative busing. We do share some routes and those are good initiatives.”

The new provincewide carbon tax, which comes into effect in January, will also create a financial challenge for the division.

“That's going to be a big deal for us,” he said. “That will cost us about $75,000 in the first fiscal year and increasing after that. It's a bit challenging until we see the impact on the utility bills. The fuel bill for the buses would be one of the larger costs.”

Pelletier says Red Deer Catholic has joined other divisions in the province in calling on the Notley government to reconsider the carbon tax on school operations.

“We've written letters to the department (education) and the minister asking them to reconsider,” he said. “So far we haven't any progress in changing their decision on that.

“It is a significant hit to every board and one we don't feel is appropriate for taxpayers. We are speaking with the same voice as post-secondary institutions. It doesn't make sense for them (government) to give us money on one hand and take it back with the other hand.”