Western School Division (WSD) will be receiving an approximately 3.2% increase or around $330,000 over the year previous in Provincial School Funding.

"It's a challenge to put together a budget that's balanced and to work with the numbers we have," said WSD Secretary-Treasurer Carl Pedersen, who is appreciative of the increase.

Last week the Provincial Government announced its funding for School Divisions in Manitoba.

"It's somewhat reflective of the current fiscal times that the government is facing," said Pedersen. "It's a pretty small increase and it'll come with its challenges as we set our budget."

Pedersen said they've experienced a 2.3% increase in student enrolment resulting in about a third of the funding increase with the rest coming from an increase in equalization funding. Equalization funding assists school divisions with lower assessment per pupil, to cover costs over and above the level of provincial funding.

Also during the funding announcement, the Province had placed a 2% increase in the Special Requirement, which is used to calculate the Special Levy and mill rate.

"It kind of pre-determines what we can set within our Special Requirement," said Pedersen. "We kind of have a good idea of the revenue numbers we have been working with. So, we just have to work back with our expenditures and see where we can tighten up a little bit."

The administrative expense cap is seeing a reduction by 15% and Western School Division will have to monitor these expenditures closely to ensure adherence to the guidelines.

With this announcement complete the Division will now put together a draft budget to be presented at the Budget Exhibition at 7:00 PM on February 28th at Morden Collegiate.