ucp details education budget as school officials lament overcrowding and high costs
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alberta education rolled out more details from this year’s budget at an airdrie high school wednesday, including $1.2 billion for enrolment growth and another $1.5 billion to support students with special needs and severe learning disabilities.
but even as school officials shared an appreciation for the funding, they stressed the continuing challenges around overcrowding and the tough budget decisions they’ll face in the coming year as enrolment continues to hit historic highs.
“we are gathered in the learning commons of w.h. croxford high school, a busy and bustling high school,” said fiona gilbert, board chair for rocky view schools.
“this school first opened 10 years ago with just 308 students . . . it has grown to over 1,500 students with a utilization of 116 per cent.”
gilbert said the overcapacity is typical of many rocky view schools in the rapidly growing communities of airdrie, cochrane and chestermere, adding the data represents not just numbers, but students who deserve a quality education.
“rvs, like other growing jurisdictions, needs the space and the funding to keep pace with the enrolment growth we are seeing.”
gilbert said the province’s new “weighted moving average” formula, which funds school districts based on three-year enrolment projections, has made things especially challenging for school districts that have seen unpredictably high growth in recent years.
but education minister demetrios nicolaides insisted this year’s $9.3-billion budget, a 4.4 per cent increase over last year, will address much of the province’s growing needs.
“we’re seeing people from across canada and around the world making the choice to move here. but it’s also meant we’re seeing more and more students registering in our schools, and we’re seeing increasing complexity in our classrooms,” he said.
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“but i’m confident these investments will help alleviate some of the enrolment pressures on our education system, and empower school authorities to provide a world-class education that will set alberta students up for a lifetime of success.”
nicolaides said the province will provide $1.5 billion to support students with special needs, including a $43-million classroom complexity grant to increase resources, hire more educational assistants, school counsellors and speech language pathologists.
“with more classroom support staff, school authorities will be better equipped to provide more focused attention to students with specialized needs.”
nicolaides added the $1.2 billion over three years to address enrolment growth also gives school districts the “flexibility” to hire 3,100 new teachers, educational assistants or other school-based staff across the province.
but the alberta teachers’ association has called for at least 6,000 new teachers, in addition to support staff, to make up for years of underfunding.
alberta teacher association president jason schilling.
jim wells/postmedia
ata president jason schilling has stressed that the ucp provided flat funding for several years before last year, when it increased by 5.4 per cent ahead of a spring election.
and this year, the 4.4 per cent budget hike is less than last year, even though school boards are projecting another historic year of growth.
this week, the calgary board of education’s capital plan forecast another 8,000-plus students in 2024-25, on top of the 7,029 it received this year.
marilyn dennis, a cbe trustee who spoke wednesday in her additional role as president of the alberta school boards association, said that while she appreciates the additional funding from government, school districts across the province are facing multiple financial challenges.
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“asba has been working closely with our members to identify required supports to address historic enrolment growth, an influx of newcomer students and increased financial pressures amid inflation, rising insurance costs, utilities and other operational expenses,” she said.
“boards will need to make difficult decisions as they look to presenting their balanced budgets to government in may.”
nicolaides added that supports to special-needs students will include $6 million for program unit funding (puf), which gives supports to at-risk students in the early grades.
but ndp education critic amanda chapman said albertans needn’t celebrate a $6-million increase to puf when the ucp has cut more than $90 million from the program over the past several years.
“no matter how they try to spin it, (premier) danielle smith and the ucp are massively underfunding education in alberta and their budget has made a horrible situation even worse,” she said.
“under the ucp’s watch, alberta has sunk from being one of the top funders of students to the lowest in the country, showing how little they truly value our children, despite what they might claim.”
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