Tony Baldwin is performing a balancing act familiar to other school administrators. 

The Director of Education for Prairie South School Division (PSSD) is anticipating meeting long-term goals, while at the same time monitoring how past decisions affect the present school year, which opens Tuesday. 

"We're going to be about 25 staff members lighter going into the school year than we were last year," explained Baldwin, discussing decisions that were made this past spring following the provincial budget. "We know there are pieces of the puzzle we're going to have to figure out how to do differently or not do at all anymore."

PSSD experienced a 4% cut to funding, which also impacted transportation.

The division eliminated dual-catchment areas for rural students, meaning fewer busing options for students who choose to attend a school outside of their designated area. 

"For many (families) it's created a big wrinkle in how they get their kids to school," Baldwin acknowledged. "They've been understanding of our reality and we've worked hard to try and get to where we need to get to with them.  We'll probably have some hiccups within that first week but we'll work hard to sort them out."

In the meantime, Baldwin is excited about following up on what has become a division priority: higher graduation rates. 

"Derek Huschi, one of our superintendents has  been doing lots of provincial leadership connected to that," explained Baldwin. "I know teachers and principals in our school have been working hard on that too."

Baldwin says attendance and transitioning successfully from elementary to high school are two key factors.

"We know we need kids to be at school," he stated. "If they have good attendance, they'll be successful, that's what the data shows."

As for transitioning, Baldwin says "sometimes it's hard, when you're doing that handoff in a city from one school to the next, because the teachers on the receiving end don't know the kids as well as the teachers on the sending end did."