The student population in the Howe Sound School District is expected to drop by about 100. Despite the drop school officials expect the district to function with about $1 million more in 2005-06 than they did in 2004-05.
The operating grant for the district in 2004-05 was $30,204,821 and the provincial government expects the figure to grow to $31,236,818 for the school year beginning in the fall.
Last week, Education Minister Tom Christensen announced the total per pupil operating grant for school districts will increase by $345 in 2005-06. Grants now equal about $7,097 a year for each student in the province.
School district vice-chair Amy Shoup said she was happy to learn of the extra funding. She just returned from vacation and said she needed to learn more about the specifics of the grant.
"We always welcome more funding," said the former board chair. "We just don't know yet if the funding is going to be targeted for specific areas or untargeted."
School board secretary-treasurer Nancy Edwards said there is a chance this district won't see all the money because some of the money may never arrive.
"We're getting $1.1 million more; however, $330,000 is what they call a possible allocation," Edwards said. "We don't actually get that until they do enrolment counts next September. The year we are currently in they told us our possible share was going to be $330,000 and we actually got $190,000."
