School boards get funding cut

Nova Scotia's eight school boards will see their funding cut for the second year in a row, this time by 1.3 per cent in the 2012-13 fiscal year.

Ramona Jennex, the Minister of Education, said the cut amounts to $13.4 million from an overall budget estimate of just over $1 billion.

"I feel very confident that these reductions can be made without impacting the classroom," Jennex told reporters on Friday.

"We have the challenge of continual declining enrolment."

Jennex said the cuts were unavoidable because enrolment is expected to drop this year by more than 2,200 students or 1.7 per cent.

The $13.4 million cut follows a $17.6 million funding reduction last year and officials with the Education Department said the latest decrease could result in larger class sizes and will mean fewer teaching positions.

Jennex said most job cuts would be done through attrition. The Education Department said no permanent teachers were laid off as a result of last year's cut, although 350 teaching positions were lost across the province, mainly through attrition.

Alexis Allen, president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, said the cuts make a mockery of the government's promises to improve the quality of education.

Allen said more than 300 teachers who were temporary or on contract as consultants were laid off last year and this year's budget cuts will lead to more of the same.

She was also critical of a move by the Education Department to raise the cap on class sizes from 27 to a maximum of 29 students in Primary to Grade 3 classes.

"From a board's perspective, when they have to cut, they have to look at efficiences and where they can do it. But if I'm a parent or I'm a person that cares about public education, I think saying, 'Our classes will be 29 in Primary and grades 1 and 2 and 3' is not the way to go," she said.

"We may lose another 120 teachers because of declining enrolment but we'll lose another 200 and more because of the cuts to education."

Opportunities 'used up' in last year's cuts

The department said while the funding reductions would vary for different boards, no board would face a cut that exceeds 2.1 per cent.

The cuts range from a low of 0.9 per cent for the Annapolis Valley and Halifax regional school boards to a high of 2.1 per cent for the South Shore, Strait and Cape Breton-Victoria regional school boards.

The lone exception is Nova Scotia's French language board, which will see a 1.6 per cent funding increase because of a rise in enrolment.

Boards will once again shoulder responsibility for inflationary and salary costs.

Trudy Thompson, the chair of the Chignecto-Central Regional School Board, said the board laid off teaching assitants and bus drivers when the province cut millions of dollars from the budget last year.

She said she doesn't know where the money will be found for the latest cuts.

"We had streamlined everything last year so this year we will be finding it harder to protect the programs and services for students," she told CBC News on Friday.

Jack Beaton, the superintendent of the Strait Regional School Board, said last year, savings were found in administration, professional development and infrastructure.

"The difficulty this time around is that those opportunities were used up in last year's efforts for the most part," he said.

"This year it's going to be likely that it's going to have more impact on the classroom."

Funding for special education increased

Liberal critic Andrew Younger said the education minister was being misleading.

"It does not reduce the number of teachers that are required, it does not reduce the number of school buses that are required, it does not reduce the amount of oil it takes to heat schools," Younger said.

"The costs stay the same and in fact, they increase."

Meanwhile, Jennex said the province will increase the funding allocation for special education by $12.2 million and boards will ensure that students are matched with the appropriate support staff.

John McCracken of the Canadian Union of Public Employees said last year's funding cut resulted in the loss of 45 positions at the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board, the bulk of which were special education assistants.

"We take the minister at her word that she's going to protect special needs, but do the math," said McCracken.