The provincial budget released Thursday provides little indication that K-12 education is a priority for the government, according to the President of the Saskat-chewan School Boards Association.

“The injection of new funding is appreciated,” said President Roy Challis. “But we were hoping for a long-term plan to address property taxes, and instead we received an extension of the band-aid solution provided by a rebate. Many of the other announcements cover basic cost increases such as salaries.”

The budget provided an increase of $23.8 million to school division operating grants. This includes funding for the current and potential new teachers’ contract, negotiations for which begin next week. Also announced in the budget is the continuation for two more years of the eight per cent property tax rebate, which has been in place for the last two years.

Two years ago the Association joined with five partners in the property tax coalition: The Association of Saskatchewan Realtors, the Provincial Association of Resort Communities of Saskatchewan, the Saskat-chewan Association of Rural Municipalities, the Saskat-chewan Chamber of Commerce, and the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association.

The coalition has been calling on the government to provide a long-term, sustainable plan for property tax relief by providing incremental increases to education funding. Instead the government has responded with the short-term rebate, which might be increased to 10 per cent if the federal budget is approved.

“We would have preferred the money to be put into education grants, and we would have preferred to see a plan to permanently return provincial funding for education to 60 per cent,” Challis said. “Property taxpayers are calling for true relief.”

The new funding to education also includes: one-time funding to ease the impact of changes to the funding formula; one-time funding to assist with restructuring; and, funding to implement government initiatives such as School Community Councils and the Continuous Improvement Framework.

A positive development has been the continued simplification of the Foundation Operating Grant formula that funds education. Another was the funding provided by the Departments of Learning and First Nations and Metis Relations to implement an Aboriginal Employment Development Program for school divisions. “The budget decisions affect each board of education differently,” Challis said. “It will take some time to completely understand the full impact.”

The Saskatchewan School Boards Association represents all 28 boards of education in Saskatchewan.