The Saskatchewan government's proposal for amalgamation of public school divisions would take more than $7 million in provincial dollars away from schools in the southeast corner of the province every year, said the chair of South Central School Board division on Monday.

"Local taxpayers will have to make up that $7 million every year," said Audrey Trombley.

A proposed boundary map released last month would join Sunrise School Division with South Central; Estevan city, Comprehensive and rural; a portion of Moosomin division; and Souris-Moose Mountain division, into one large division for the whole southeast.

The province wants the amalgamation to be completed by Jan. 1, 2006.

Trombley said government estimates show if the amalgamation had been completed this year, the new southeast school division would have received only $1.5 million in provincial operating grants, rather than the $8.7 million that three of the existing divisions received separately.

Of the three, Sunrise School Division received $3.6 million this year, Estevan Public Division received $4.7 million, and the Estevan Comprehensive School Board received $.6 million.

The other existing divisions in this region are zero grant boards, which means they already pay the entire cost of the education they provide to students and receive no provincial grant money for operations.

After amalgamation, Trombley said taxpayers in the southeast would end up carrying over 97 per cent of the cost of education. Using figures for 2004, it's clear that government grants would pay only 2.6 per cent of the cost of education in the new southeast division, she said.

"The public needs to know what's going to happen," she said.

"There are a lot of people who are saying amalgamation has to happen, just like the health boards. But there is a huge difference between health boards, which are all publicly-funded, and school boards which are not," she said.

Despite the public's perception, ratepayers won't see a reduction in their share of education taxes in this area from amalgamation and they won't see a 60-40 split in costs with the province, said Trombley. Education taxes will go up here, she said.

The executive director of school finance for the province said Monday it was understood at the provincial level that some school districts will pay more, as a result of amalgamation, while others will pay less.

Taxpayers in some of the divisions in the southeast have had the benefit of lower education taxes than other ratepayers in the province, said Don Sangster. When a district is as rich as South Central, in terms of tax assessment per student, there's room to pay higher taxes, he said.

In South Central School District and in Estevan Rural School Division, the mill rates are four and three points lower, respectively, than the provincial average, he said. Most of South Central pays a 15.45 mill rate, while a portion in the Radville area pays 19 mills in 2004.

Provincial statistics show the average mill rate in the province is 19 mills, with some taxpayers paying 21 and 22 mills in spite of provincial operating grant to help them out with costs, said Sangster.

Sangster points out that Estevan Rural School Division is able to raise $700,000 in taxes for each student because of its high oil and gas tax base, while the average assessment in the province per student is $200,000.

Sangster said some areas within the new district, like Weyburn or Estevan, might see their mill rate go down as a result of amalgamation.

Learning Minister Andrew Thomson said Monday that people should remember the final boundaries have not yet been drawn. There's some concern about Weyburn and Estevan being in the same division, so maybe the lines will have to be drawn differently, he said.

"I can't comment on the potential impact," of the loss of $7 million to the local economy, he said. "We will have to look at the way (the change) would impact areas," he said.

Other factors will also have to be included in the decision, he said, like the 2005 reassessment that might shift land values, and the new money coming into education from the one-time change in the federal equalization formula that will bring in $100 million to the province.

Some of that $100 million will go to taxpayers and some will have to be used for infrastructure, he said.

"I think all these issues will have to be looked at."

South Central and Sunrise School boards are scheduled to meet with the provincial task force soon to discuss the amalgamation proposal. No public hearings are planned.