The Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division passed a balanced budget for the 2023-24 school year during their meeting Tuesday. However, the balance had to be made by drawing from the school division’s reserves. The amount being taken from the reserves is $843,350. 

“We have been working on this budget for several months now and really tighten our belts at several levels,” explained HFRCSSD’s Director of Education Gwen Keith. “First of all, within our existing budget for this year and put restrictions into next year – made adjustments in our staffing complement for the year coming up.” 

Keith pointed out that while the provincial Ministry of Education may not provide all of the funding needed for the expenses, they still need to be paid.  

“I don’t care whether it’s heat or power or insurance or memberships,” Keith continued. “The whole list of items that we have to cover as we begin next year, so we tried to stay away from schools from the point of view of things like school-based budgets, but it certainly impacted our staffing.” 

Despite the need to borrow significant amounts from the reserves, and having to tighten the belts, as Keith said, they are still working to provide the best education possible for students, balancing the challenges with the division’s priorities. The budget at this point will now be passed on to the Ministry of Education for approval. 

The budget wasn’t the only item covered during the board meeting on Tuesday, as it is a busy time for the school division as they wrap up the current school year and plan for the next one.  

Last week, the division celebrated Catholic Education Week, which had a theme of “We Are Many, We Are One." As well, the National Catholic Conference is coming to Saskatoon later this year, and the division will be supporting the work that is being done to hold the event.