A program so seamless families in Lloydminster may not know it exists.
“It’s seamless, I would be surprised if many families in our division knew what comes from Alberta and what comes from Saskatchewan,” said Jason Neville, Lloydminster Public School Division (LPSD) director of education.
Lloydminster council heard an update from the Lloydminster Catholic School Division (LCSD) and LPSD at the Feb. 10 Governance and Priorities Committee meeting.
The topic in question surrounded the seamless levy partnership the two divisions use to equalize school offerings.
“Why do we have a levy? Because school boards can’t levy taxes by themselves. The seamless levy was a solution arrived at between provincial discussions and city discussions involving multiple ministers, particularly from Saskatchewan, to say how do we equalize services when we are funded differently from different provinces,” said Nigel McCarthy, LCSD director of education. “It has been a work in progress for us really from the 2012/13 year to the present.”
McCarthy spoke about the importance of having a strong education system in the community.
“A strong education system grows the community, the key findings over the last 10 years or the questions we get over the last 10 years are about those who are coming to the city, about coming to a border city. There are two sides to it. How does that work? Do I get an Alberta diploma?” he said. “It’s about doctors who, when they move here, one of their primary concerns is how are my children going to get educated.”
The seamless levy aims to equalize opportunities for students on both sides of the Lloydminster border. It responds specifically to the city charter, which says that no matter where you are as a resident of the city, you shouldn’t be disadvantaged.
“Imagine if we snowplowed differently in Saskatchewan than Alberta,” said McCarthy as an example of what things would be like without this levy.
The seamless levy supports specific items such as pre-kindergarten, over-age students, driver education, EAL (English as an additional language) services and First Nations’ education.
During the question-and-answer period following the presentation, Coun. Jim Taylor asked if they could give an example of the difference between Saskatchewan and Alberta, asking who pays for driver training and how the seamless levy is applied.
Taylor followed up by asking if there was a particular item that expends the most funding from the seamless levy.
“Each school system responds slightly differently to the students it receives on an annual basis. You would see differences in where we might expend more or less depending on the program of highest need we see for that year,” said McCarthy.
Taylor’s final question specified the significance of a shortfall when it came to funding.
“That would be different year to year, especially the over-age student one. Those students graduate out and you might have a bigger group for one or two years.” said Neville. “It’s dependant on needs. Some may have higher needs resulting in higher funding needed to go towards them.”
McCarthy provided more specific numbers on how it affects the Catholic division.
“For us, on an annual basis over the last year, it was a 40 per cent shortfall over the funds, 40 per cent more investment needed to be made,” he said.
McCarthy says it was a relatively high-cost year. He says transportation needs for intensive-needs students doubled over the last year.
Coun. Michele Charles Gustafson asked if there was a sense of who would be saying no to our community if the levy wasn’t in place.
“With me being new to the city, I don’t know how many people even understand it would be different,” said Neville. “I don’t think you would notice it until it was gone, then you would have people going ‘Well, how come I’m on the Alberta side and I don’t get what happens just across the street.'”
Mayor Gerald Aalbers chimed in with the idea of funding a specific program and pursuing conversations with ministers about potential funding.
“Letting the minister of jobs, trades and economy in Alberta know they’re missing an opportunity for future employees,” said Aalbers.
Specifically speaking to the over-age program, Aalbers says the success of the Avery Outreach School is a testament to the success these levy-funded programs have.
“To see the work that’s done there and how we’ve been able to turn out graduates from our public school system that are contributing members of society as soon as they walk out,” he said.
Council accepted the presentation as information.
Read more: LCSD builds for future
