The Red River Valley School Division (RRVSD) announced during their budget meeting that $931,500 in cuts are needed for the 2018-19 school year.

This is a result of directives from Education and Training Minister Ian Wishart and the Manitoba Government, designed to steer Manitoba back onto a responsible fiscal track.

Divisions were directed to limit the increase to local education property tax to 2 per cent, a $346,500 increase for RRVSD. However, the division received a 2 per cent decrease in provincial funding, a total of $263,712.

Changes were made to the General Support grant, resulting in a decrease of $61,000.

Meanwhile, enrolment is project to increase to 2,156 in September 2018, an increase of about 56 students.

During the public budget meeting held at Morris School, Board Chair Shelley Syrota explained what cuts will look like going forward with these challenges.

The positions of a foreman, a French language leader, an IT tech, a guidance coach, and extra clerical support are jobs to be eliminated from the division. A behaviour coach position will be decreased to half time.

Syrota said during the meeting that teacher's jobs were spared, but jobs such as the ones listed above, like the guidance coach, will be lost.

"If a teacher was having an issue, the guidance coach would come and help... the teacher with ideas on how to make that child successful in the classroom, maybe in behavioural ways or in social ways, or in mental health ways," she explained.

In terms of funding and programming, the division has proposed to eliminate funding for the internship program, online course development, high school course fees, K-8 school supplies, and outdoor play equipment.

Some people regard these items, such as provided school supplies, to be an 'extra', while others think otherwise. Syrota explained it's the 'extras' that are first to go.

``Some of the extras we have in place are things like paying for school supplies, paying for high school course fees, which now those costs will go back to the families and it's unfortunate that it's some of our most vulnerable kids and families that are going to pay the highest price for some of these cuts."

"Now we will go back to charging a fee because we have to remove those extras from our budget. So, families who struggle financially may not be able to send their kids to all the courses or all the field trips, or all the extras," she added.

Funding will also be cut for the staff appreciation event, accessibility plan, and transportation costs for extra-curricular field trips.

``It becomes a pick and choose what you can afford as opposed to accessibility for all," said Syrota.

The province also announced a 15% reduction to the existing administration cost caps, which Superintendent Brad Curtis said will not effect them right now, since they`ve stayed under that budget cap. Staffing cuts were not made in this area.

The division`s operating expenditure for the 2018-19 school year is $32,117,899, a 1.38 per cent increase. The budget is broken down into the following categories; 80.5 per cent is spent on salaries and benefits, 8.3 per cent is for services and utilities, 7.8 per cent is supplies, materials and equipment, and the remaining 3.4 per cent is for payroll tax, vocational, and school of choice.

The draft budget has proposed the Special Levy increase from 19,529,445 dollars, to 21,267,799 dollars, an increase of 8.9 per cent. The division said the average increase in assessed properties in its 12 municipalities is 10.23 per cent.