Proposed 7.5% tax hike in Louis Riel School Division would pay for universal full-day kindergarten

The Louis Riel School Division is proposing universal full-day kindergarten starting this fall, and a 7.5 per cent increase in local property taxes to support it.

That tax hike was among the options presented for the first time at a public meeting Tuesday evening, where trustees in the Winnipeg school division unveiled their budget plans for the 2024-25 school year.

Those options also include a minimum 6.5 per cent increase — referred to at the meeting as the break-even option — which would essentially only allow for the division, which is expecting 925 new students in the upcoming school year, to maintain everything it currently offers.

But the extra one per cent hike proposed would allow the division to expand its full-day kindergarten from just nine of its schools to 30, meaning kindergarten students in nearly 60 classrooms across the division will have a full day of school starting next year if the budget proposal is approved.

The pitch comes just a few years after Manitoba's largest school division axed a pilot program offering full-day kindergarten in some schools. The Winnipeg School Division said at the time the program, which ran for eight years, didn't have the benefits on student learning and academic performance that were expected.

Ward 4 trustee Pamela Kolochuk told those gathered at the Tuesday meeting the pitch was an example of how Louis Riel School Division likes "to be bold and audacious."

"We look to our community and how we can support [those] in our community in order to make our community better. How can we support the economy? How can we support mothers? How can we support early learners?" Kolochuk said.

Superintendent Christian Michalik said that while the division has "experimented" with full-day kindergarten since 2016, it's time for that opportunity to be extended to students in all its schools. 

"We believe that for public education to truly be universal, our youngest learners — the learners we welcome … for the very first time — should be with us the full day," Michalik said at the meeting.

He said the change will also help address barriers to child care for parents whose children are starting kindergarten in the division this fall, and added that most other provinces already offer full-day kindergarten. 

Michalik said his own children, who are now adults, benefited greatly from attending full-day kindergarten in the Division Scolaire Franco-Manitobaine.

"So I've been like a broken record, for those who know me, about full-day kindergarten for some time now," he said. 

Kolochuk told CBC News the extra one per cent tax hike would work out to roughly $2.5 million — which would be an extra $20 for the average owner of a home worth roughly $380,000.

She said she's heard positive feedback about the proposal so far, largely because of how full-day kindergarten would help address child-care challenges.

"People are finding it very difficult to find daycare, especially when you need to find daycare for half a day or every other day. You need to rely on family. You know, it impacts your job, it impacts your work life, family life that you're trying to organize," Kolochuk said.

"Because it's definitely going to change what they do as a parent, right? And how their family works and whether or not, you know, mom or dad can possibly work more or go back to work."

She said she's confident the division will approve the tax hike, but it will continue to accept feedback from the community until it votes on the budget on March 12.

The proposal comes weeks after the province announced school divisions across Manitoba would see their annual operating funding climb just under the inflation rate for 2023.

It also gave trustees the option to raise property taxes, as the Louis Riel School Division is considering doing, if they find that money isn't enough.

If the overall proposed increase of 7.5 per cent is adopted, the average homeowner would pay an extra $150 per year.