BGSD approves 2025/2026 school budget

LEDUC COUNTY -- The Black Gold School Division has approved its budget for the 2025-2026 school year.

The budget for next school year includes projected revenues of $169,151,378, expenses of $171,173,465, and a resulting deficit of $2,022,087. According to the BGSD's Associate Superintendent Chelsey Volkman, the deficit for 2025-2026 will be offset by funding from reserves.

"This deficit will be supported through the use of operating reserves," said Volkman during May's Board of Trustees meeting. "The planned deficit will be used to provide staffing to limit increases to class sizes, to support the diverse needs of students, and support start-up costs for the Calmar Secondary Collegiate School."

Based on prior year trends and the average growth rates in the Division's municipalities, student enrollment in the BGSD is projected to be 13,800 as of September 30th, 2025. This represents an increase of 2.5 per cent from the 2024-2025 school year as the region continues to grow. Meantime, salaries and benefits continues to make up the majority of the Division's expenses for the upcoming school year.

"Salaries and benefits make up 76 per cent of the Divisions' total budget expenses," said Volkman. "The overall increase in comparison to the previous year's spring budget is due to both the budgeted increase in the number of teachers due to enrollment growth, and the increase to the budgeted average salaries and benefits."

Alberta Education requires each school board to submit the 2026 Budget Report by May 31st, 2025. On May 16th, the Education Deputy Minister advised school authorities that this deadline had been extended to June 20th, 2025.