Parents worry for school band program, while division looks to fill budget hole

Whether playing percussion, bass or wind instruments, parents of kids in band in the Regina Public School Division said they’re worried about what the program is going to look like in the next school year.

The division is in the midst of working out its 2025-26 school year budget and is looking for places to cut. Christina Carlson is on the board for the Sheldon Williams area music parents association, which also works with the elementary school, and she has kids in band herself.

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Carlson said the band teachers have been told cuts are coming to the program and that there’s no clear plan yet on how instruction will look.

“We are just trying to understand the information that they used to make these decisions and what gaps we can help to fill as parents to help them with their decision moving forward,” she said.

Band is an important space and an important outlet for students, according to Carlson.

“I think it’s really important they have these outlets and opportunities to do that that isn’t necessarily a sport. Kids that are in band consistently perform better in English, math, reading,” said Carlson.

“Our music instruction is boosting focus, executive function and academic resilience – so we’re teaching them how to participate and also increasing their self-confidence and creating some connection in the program as well.”

For her own kids, she said they needed a secondary outlet so their brains would be ready for the classroom.

“By my son being able to be in elementary school band and in high school band and in musical theatre and in jazz and choir and all these music programs, it gives him the space to be creative and the space to learn in a different way,” she explained.

Carlson said the Sheldon-area program has 307 students in it with two full-time staff.

“If we lose a band instructor in our division, I can’t imagine how one person would manage over 300 students in a program. That doesn’t add up for me, it just feels very unbalanced,” she explained.

Dollars and cents

A statement from the Regina Public School Division said it’s still working out the details of its budget and, as part of that, is working on a restructuring plan for the elementary band program, which isn’t expected to include any reduction in teacher staffing.

The division said it’s working on aligning its programs and services with the provincial government’s education strategy, which is focused on early years literacy, more space for students and classroom complexity – all of which is tied to funding.

It said the arts, including band, are important to students and staff, and while it complements the government’s education strategy, it’s not integral to it.

The Regina Public School Board’s chair, Adam Hicks, wanted to be clear that the program will still exist. He said nearly all the trustees have kids who are or were in band.

“The board will always support unique opportunities and diverse opportunities for all students. Band plays an extremely important role in many students’ lives,” he said.

He said the division doesn’t fire teachers when it makes cuts like this, it would shuffle them around to another spot in the division.

Hicks explained the division is trying to find a way to fill a $2 million budget deficit. He said it’s a combination of not enough funding from the province and funding that has specific conditions on what it can be used for.

“Conditional funding is not what boards are looking for, they need to be able to meet the needs of their local communities,” said Hicks.

The conditional funding came through things like the teachers’ collective bargaining agreement for classroom complexity and specialty programs for classroom learning – funding Hicks was quick to say the division is very grateful for – but he said it still means the division has to find a way to pay for everything else.

Hicks said there are about 1,600 students in the band program, and the average elementary school band class size is 12 students.

Currently, the division has 7,000 students in the English as a Second Language program, and seven per cent of students in the division have intensive needs, and Hicks said they don’t have nearly the supports that are needed.

“There are a lot of needs in this division, and band has been relatively unscathed through all the last number of budget years,” he said.

“So it’s a decision between, do we cut supports for those programs, or do we cut some supports for band?”

Adam Hicks, Regina Public School Board Chair (provided)

The Ministry of Education said Regina Public Schools saw a $23.7 million increase in the 2025-26 provincial budget over the year before. School divisions as a whole were given a $186.4 million increase in the spring budget, $130 million of which would go to fund the new teachers’ contract and to address classroom complexity.

At the time, the Saskatchewan School Boards Association said the increase wouldn’t fully address the funding gaps boards had identified, but it would stop them from falling further behind.

The ministry said it’s up to the boards of education to make decisions about the needs of students.

“While government provides funding, school divisions have the responsibility to make staffing, programming and resource decisions for their division,” read its statement.

The division has to have its budget finalized and submitted to the government by the end of June. Hicks said the division is doing this later than normal because of a delay in getting information from the province, but it’s set up a special meeting June 24 to discuss the budget.

Carlson said a number of parent associations have gotten together and made a request to speak at the division’s June 10 board meeting to ask for cuts to be paused until there has been more consideration and consultation.

She said the programs are growing steadily with a high retention rate from elementary to high school, so cutting supports is a concern.