According to the Saskatchewan Polytechnic Faculty Association, the Saskatchewan NDP says the school has issued layoff notices to summer staff and more could be coming as it deals with a massive $14-15 million budget shortfall.  According to the Faculty Association, Saskatchewan Polytechnic is facing the budget shortfall due to a massive reduction of international students which the school had used to compensate for the insufficient levels of provincial funding.

Saskatchewan NDP Shadow Minister for Advanced Education Tajinder Grewal says this follows the layoff of 27 staff earlier this year which he says was avoidable.  “The Sask. Party should never have starved our post-secondary schools of funding making them so dependent on international student fees.”

The Official Opposition says this year the provincial government cut $6 million from post-secondary funding compared to last year.

Grewal says the funding gap is approximately 10 to 15 per cent. “Our post-secondary institutions are underfunded.  To fill that gap, the institution is dependent on international student fees, or they’re dependent on increasing tuition fees which is about four per cent, or fundraising-or a combination of all.  They’re starving.”

Grewal says much of the institution’s full-time workforce is in Saskatoon, Regina, Prince Albert and Moose Jaw.

The Saskatchewan NDP says education is the key to building a strong economy and the province needs a strong Saskatchewan Polytechnic.