Winnipeg School Division frowns on fundraisers, wants schools to stop asking parents to pay

The head of Manitoba's largest school division is asking schools to take a recess on fundraising.

Matt Henderson, superintendent of the Winnipeg School Division, says fundraising can be a barrier for families and also reveals disparitiesbetween schools.

A school in a higher-income neighbourhood, for example, might be able to raise money forequipment, like play structures, while onein a lower-income community might not have that same ability, he said.

"Our board of trustees has said that a play structure should come out of the purview of public education, and so, you know, we've budgeted to replace four a year and do those upgrades," Henderson said.

Similarly, electronic equipment or furnitureshould fall under the purview of public education, he said.

"It's really about asking principals and communities to think deeply about how we create equitable opportunities across the division, and one way for that is to ensure that those things which are public remain public."

It's about ensuring every single child in a school within the division is on a level playing field, he said. Money should not be an impediment to that, he said.

"We really want schools to exhaust their budgets [instead of turning to fundraising]. And we've let schools know that we have put some funds aside when they do need a top-up on their budget," Henderson said.

The division began taking acritical look at those financial considerationslast year. That has led to other adjustments as well, such as schools being asked to move away fromchargingfor lunch programs or field trips within the city.

"Historically, parent advisory councils have run lunch programs in Winnipeg School Division and charged fees to parents for that. We've asked our schools to begin that transition where we [the division] do the supervision," Henderson said.

Regarding field trips, he said "we really don't want to keep charging parents and families$8 here, $12 here."

For more substantive tripsoutside the city, that's different, Henderson said.

"But we would ask schools to ensure that any child who does want to go on a substantial trip has the opportunity, regardless of whether they have the funds or not."

The WSD also began this year to ask schools to charge a maximum of $40 for school supplies per student, rather than sending home a list of things parents need to buy.

"We have an incredible power in terms of our tendering ability, sowe've gone to our vendors to sort of say, hey, we'd like, you know, make sure that we have a low-cost school supplies so that parents don't have to go to Staples or wherever and spend a lot of money," Henderson said.

"We have an opportunity here as a division, as communities, as a larger community, to think about the purpose of public education and how we ensure that all 79 of our schools have equitable educative opportunities."

Strongly encouraged

At this point, none of the changes are mandated, but that could soon change.

"I would say that we're asking schools to think deeply about it," Henderson said.

"The board of trustees will be contemplating some policy, but at this point, the overarching ask of schools is to really think about reducing fees because we know it's really, really difficult out there right now, and families are struggling, and we want to make sure that we're not putting an extra burden."

Asked if he has had any pushback from schools or parent councils unhappy about that direction, Henderson said he has been attendingparentadvisory council meetings "to listen to the concerns of parents, but also to communicate the vision of the school division."

"I know that there'll be people who are happy about this direction, but I also know that there's some people who have incredible energy and have done fantastic things for their school communities," he said.

"We really want to capture that, but also, we want to make sure that we're not creating a system where we have have and have-not schools."

Proposed change'bogus,' saysparent

Samantha Nyquest is a parent who has two children at different schools. She says the Winnipeg School Division's proposal to limitfundraising efforts is "bogus" because schoolshave a lack of funds and need fundraising in orderto meet the needs of students.

"That's what we do, we get together and we help our children to raise the money that they need so we can get better learning and support for our kids," said Nyquest. "So if you took away the fundraising then there would be nothing."

"Even in the neighborhood I live in, there's people that don't even have children and they give," said Nyquest.

Nyquest said she doesn't agree with the district that fundraising can show a disparity between wealthy and less wealthy schools and that kids' fundraising activities should not be measured by the students' challenges or upbringing.

"Kids love to fundraise," said Nyquest. "Kids love to go and show their support for their school and they shouldn't take that away from them."

Peter Reimer is also a parent with children in the Winnipeg School Division. He says school officials should not be dictating to parents whether or not they should be allowed to participate in fundraising activities.

"If somebody wants their children to partake in it, let them," said Reimer.

"I don't want some school official teaching me or trying to convince my children that a certain way is the only way."

Shift in budgets

Henderson acknowledged thatschools have been stretched thin with their spending for several years, but some of that can be relieved by re-examining where the money is going, he said.

"We have to look at wherewe're putting resources that may not have impact and where we might want to put more resources towards things that have greater impact," he said.

"We've been able to shift some things around toadd more to school budgets. But I think long-term, it's a larger question with the province of Manitoba to ensure thatwe maintain public school funding."

The pause on fundraising is for school-related purposes. It doesnot include fundraising for charities, Henderson said.

"If there's fundraising for a cause that is outside of the purview of public education, absolutely. It's really when we start using fundraising money for things that should be under that umbrella of public education that we'retaking some time to think about critically."

Winnipeg School Division frowns on fundraisers, wants schools to stop asking parents to pay

13 days ago

Duration 2:16

The head of Manitoba's largest school division is asking schools to hold off on fundraising efforts. Superintendent Matt Henderson says fundraising can be a barrier for families and create inequalities between schools. Henderson says that can look like one school being able to raise money for new electronics or a new play structure, while another one can't.