The Saskatchewan Rivers School Division was happy with the province’s 2026 budget investment in education.
The government is investing $3.6 billion in education this budget year. The budget funds will be used for Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 schools, early learning and childcare and libraries
Saskatchewan’s 27 school divisions will receive $2.5 billion in school operating funding for the 2026-27 school year, an increase of $62.2 million, or 2.6 per cent from the previous budget. Over the past three years, the province has increased school operating funding by approximately 20 per cent.
Acting director of education for Saskatchewan Rivers Cory Trann said that the overall budget was positive.
“The ministry has responded in a way to allow for us to continue doing our business in a good way,” Trann said. “It allows us to continue to do our initiatives in a good way. It covers some of that cost of inflation that has been built into, obviously, our everyday work that we do here.”
According to the province, the budget includes $28.9 million for salary and benefit increases, $16.3 million for an additional 50 Specialized Support Classrooms, $9.2 million for inflationary pressures and $7.8 million for enrolment growth.
Trann said the position looks positive overall but CFO Jerrold Pidborochynski is still working through the finer details following Budget Day.
There is $123.8 million for new and ongoing school capital as part of the province’s capital plan. Among the new major capital projects is a new PreK-12 school in Shellbrook to consolidate and replace the existing elementary and high schools. The division is especially happy to see this project move into the capital projects list. The school division has been lobbying for the project for over a decade.
“That for us is something we’ve been lobbying for years,” Trann said. “I mean, the complexity of trying to build schools in this province is difficult.
“We’re just very happy that it’s recognized that we have major and minor capital projects that are in need for our division, because we believe they’ve been in need. For well over a decade we’ve been lobbying, so it’s been quite nice to see the result this year.”
There is $18.5 million for new minor capital renewal projects to address structural repairs and renovations to prolong the life of schools across the province. A project at Christopher Lake to demolish and rebuild a portion of the school is also on that list.
According to Major and Minor Capital submissions to the Ministry of Education for the 2027-2028 major and minor capital renewal program the consolidation of the two schools in Shellbrook was top major capital and the Christopher Lake project was top minor capital.
The Ministry of Education Infrastructure Branch invites all school divisions to submit their top three major capital and top two minor capital funding requests by Feb. 16, 2026.
Christopher Lake School is currently holding strong for population and is at 120 per cent student capacity.
