Saskatchewan Leads the Nation in Education Funding

Saskatchewan is a great place to live, work and raise a family. More people are choosing to stay in the province, and more people are either coming back home to Saskatchewan, or calling it home for the first time. Your Saskatchewan Party government has chosen to meet the challenges of this growth for today by building for tomorrow.

Recently, a study published by the Fraser Institute highlights that Saskatchewan led all Canadian provinces in per capita education funding. Since first being elected in 2007, we worked to reverse years of decline from the previous NDP government, increasing education funding by nearly $1 billion.

This investment, and a growing Saskatchewan population, has led to the construction of 40 brand new and replacement schools and major renovations for another 25 schools in the province. It has also led to the hiring of over 700 more teachers, nearly 200 more student support teachers and the addition of 5,000 childcare spaces across Saskatchewan.

We know there is still more work to do. Although our economy currently faces challenges from the global drop in resource prices, the people of this province will not go back to the old days under the NDP when 176 schools were closed – almost one per month for 16 years –funding was slashed, taxes were hiked and 400 teachers left the province.

Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders and our province’s future. As our record shows, we’re committed to ensuring that our children have the brightest future possible right here in Saskatchewan.

Colleen Young is the MLA for Lloydminster and previously served as a trustee of the Lloydminster Public School Division Board of Education for 20 years