Prairie Rose School Division held two community consultations over the last number of weeks.

The two sessions were held in Carman and at St. Paul's Collegiate. Superintendent Terry Osiowy said the turnout was good compared to past years, noting that 16 Carman community members attended, as well as 6-8 people from St. Paul's Collegiate area.

Osiowy also stated they received good feedback, which will be reported back to the board to be taken into consideration when they meet in January.

The meetings focused on how the budget will work with community priorities, said Osiowy.

"The very first part is that we wanted to give communities the opportunity to give us feedback in terms of our budget, development and in terms of priorities," he said.

He noted the difficult budget may call for increased taxation.

"Even though last year the province increased funding for public education by 1.5 percent, our division in Prairie Rose actually saw a decrease in funding of 2 percent," he explained. "I don't think we're holding our breath to expect that we're going to see an influx of dollars, I think it's going to be another difficult budget."

Osiowy said the board wanted to get an idea of where community members stand on a possible tax increase versus adjusting programs and services.

"They wanted our school division to continue offering the types of programs and services that we do have," he said.

The second part of the meetings had to do with community involvement and school spirit. Osiowy noted that literacy and numeracy skills were important learning outcomes for the community members that were present, as well as career education and support from guidance counsellors.

"They were very happy with the councillors that our board put in two years ago," said Osiowy. "They recognize, across our division, we're a rural school division, that we do not have a variety of extras in our system."

Community members said they want the division to make wise decisions that would maintain and improve the school system.