The Portage la Prairie School Division's investigating what Premier Greg Selinger's announcement of a $32.5 million increase to education funding will mean for the local area. Selinger made the announcement in Winnipeg yesterday, putting the Province's education budget at $1.3 billion. Portage school division Superintendent Hazen Barrett says they're still crunching the numbers, noting the funding boost may not mean more funding for all divisions.

"An overall general increase in education funding doesn't necessarily mean an increase in every single school division. It's a very complicated system and the grant system is very complicated. It will take us quite a while yet to crunch all the numbers, and figure out where we're going to land in terms of funding for next year."

The province also announced initiatives to help students with their planning for a future career. On top of the launch of the 'Set Your Course' website they also announced support for the development of high school credits for paid employment, cooperative placements, and internships. Citing the hiring of a career development coordinator this school year, Barrett says there's a chance that funding could benefit the division.

"We've certainly had some very strong results with our own career coordinator in the division, and this is the first year for that. Blair Hordeski has been working with very important career connections for kids in town, including apprenticeships. We're seeing, what we think are, really positive results and we're really hoping the funding for that continues."

Other aspects included in yesterday's announcement included $200,000 to help low income students pay for post-secondary education, and consulting students on what tools they need to prepare for a career.