The provincial NDP is again calling on the province to ensure there is enough funding for a safe return to school for teachers and staff,

This time, the opposition is asking that funding is not pulled back from schools based on enrollment. Normally, the province would pull funding in certain divisions once enrollment is finalized on September 30th.

NDP leader Ryan Meili says this pandemic will bring added costs onto the schools and school boards.

“At the very least, will this government do a very simple thing, which is say come September 30, they will not be clawing back those funds based on enrollment?” Meili said. “That they will allow schools to maintain any of those funds and apply those to the work they need to do to keep class sizes small, to protect kids, and to protect the community.”

Meili says this comes as parents are still debating whether or not they send their kids to school for in person classes, or take a virtual option.

“We are hearing from folks across the province that a lot of people are making the decision not to send kids back to school,” Meili said. “I spoke (on Sunday) with a Vice-Principal in a school outside of Saskatoon in a rural area, and in his school division, over 10 percent of the students who have already said they won’t be coming.”

Recently, the province announced 40 million dollars for schools across Saskatchewan for a safer re-start, and pushed back school’s start date to September 8th.