WSD Board of Trustees Approves 2025/26 Budget

March 27, 2025

NEWS RELEASE

Winnipeg School Division board passes 2025/26 budget

March 13, 2025 (Winnipeg, MB) — At a meeting on March 10, 2025, Winnipeg School Division (WSD) Board of Trustees approved the budget for the 2025/26 school year that will help create schools that are founded on joy, love, and rigour, by increasing staff, technology in classroom, and after-school programming, while reducing fees for families.

The Board of Trustees held over 20 budget consultations with school communities and surveyed families to identify their priorities for consideration as part of the draft budget. Feedback from families set clear direction on priorities:

Increase staff, reduce class size, and add more clinicians and support teachers;
Improve instruction, focused on Early Years mathematics and literacy;
Invest in after school programming for Middle Years and Senior Years learners;
Update classroom technology, upgrade the division’s network, and increase cyber-security;
Eliminate lunch supervision fees;
Support a universal nutrition program;
Reduce financial barriers such as fees for school supplies and field trips;
Upgrade play structures to current accessibility standards so families do not have to fund raise;
Create a Global Issues pilot program at Gordon Bell and College Churchill High Schools
Add more Middle Years International Baccalaureate programming in schools;
Continue to support inner City STEAM Lab at Hugh John Macdonald;
Support the Career Lab at RB Russell Vocational High School;
Scale public exhibitions of student knowledge with science fairs and historical thinking symposiums.

The 2025/26 budget to be submitted to the Province of Manitoba is $525,517,807. This marks a 9.4% increase from 2024/25 due to the need to reduce class sizes; adhering to new preparatory requirements in teacher’s collective agreement; adding more library technicians in schools; and inflationary pressures associated with aging buildings.

The mill rate increase is 5% with a property reassessment of 8.2% in WSD. Property reassessment is the portion of school tax that the division does not influence.

The estimated gross increase to the average home, including the 8.2% increase in reassessment, is $214 (13.7%) before the Homeowners Affordability Tax Credit of $1,500.

It is estimated that the average homeowner in WSD (home valued at $269,900) will see an annual decrease of $155 after the Homeowners Affordability Tax Credit of $1,500 is applied.

“WSD is committed to ensuring every child belongs and is equipped with the knowledge, skills, and ways of being for a fulsome and joyful life,” stated Board Chair, Kathy Heppner. “With our focus on smaller classrooms, more support staff, and improved instruction, the Board is excited about the impact this budget will have on families and learners.”