PRSD student enrollment numbers better than previously predicted

By Rose Sanchez
Southern Alberta Newspapers
Although the overall number of students attending schools in Prairie Rose School Division (PRSD) continues to decline, a bump in enrolment over what was estimated earlier this year, will mean additional funding for the division in a revised budget to be presented in November.
“In Grades One through 12 throughout the division, we had an increase of 17 students to what was estimated,” Ryan Boser, secretary-treasurer, told the board at the Oct. 11 regular meeting.
As of Sept. 30 there are 3,021 students in those grades enrolled in PRSD. Last year there were 3,051 students.
ECS numbers throughout the division were better than expected as well, with an increase of 27 students over predictions. A total of 218 students are enrolled in ECS programming, compared to 196 last school year.
For funding purposes, the enrolment for Grades 1-12 and ECS combined equate to and increase form projections of 30.5 students.
“That is great news considering we will see some additional funding into our budget,” said Boser.
While it is difficult to calculate the additional funding if all grants are taken into account, Boser did tell the board, that just for base funding alone, the division will see an additional $228,841 in provincial funding.
“It’s absolutely great news,” he added.
The next steps for administration are to reconfigure the budget with the new funding amounts based on the actual enrollment numbers. That will determine how the additional funding will be spent which could be some increased staffing where necessary. Following are the enrollment numbers (Grades 1-12) for Prairie Rose schools as of Sept. 30.
The increase or decrease in students is compared to estimates from the spring.