New simulation tool lets users balance Winnipeg School Division's budget

The Winnipeg School Division has launched an online budget simulation toolto raise awareness of how local education tax dollars are spent.

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Users create a fake budget by adjusting income and expenses with the aim of creating a balanced budget.

"There's often a misconception that there's a pot of money out there and that we're wasting that money," said Chris Broughton, chair of the division's finance committee. "We want to show people exactly where their money is going, and how we're managing those tax dollars judiciously."

The province used to fund 80 per cent of the school division's budget;it now funds less than 61 per cent of the budget, Broughton said.

"Now it's just a matter of showing the community that A, we're not getting enough provincial funding, and B, when that provincial funding is reduced as it is, that we have to find the money somewhere to deliver the goods and services," he said.

The school division is pushing for more funding to improve infrastructure, indigenous programming andmental health programming, he said.

"All of those are being balanced against regular instruction and special education at a time when the provincial government is underfunding many of those programs," he said.

A spokesperson for the division said it's hard to calculate how much it cost to buildthe budgetsimulationtool because a lot of the work was done internally.The cost of creating it was part of the division's annual $15,000 communications budget.

The budget tool is available at winnipegsdbudget.ca.