More than 10 Alberta school boards, including the Livingstone Range School Division, will receive less provincial funding than last year, according to recently released funding profiles posted on the Alberta government’s website May 6.
Schools, including in Fort Macleod, will also likely experience even larger class sizes and program cuts when school starts in the fall, as a result of these cuts. The Livingstone Range School Division will receive a 0.1 per cent cut or $52, 483.
“There is no excuse in our growing, wealthy province to have funding cuts for public education. Year after year after year, school board funding has failed to keep up with inflation and enrolment growth and as a result, we now have the lowest per-pupil spending on education in all of Canada,” says Jason Schilling. Alberta Teachers’ Association president.
Schilling adds many school boards will also be laying off teachers at the end of the school year.
These plans, according to the ATA, run contrary to government budget announcements heralding the hiring of 3,000 additional school staff over the next three years.
Schilling notes school boards must halt any planned layoffs and the government should immediately announce additional funding for the fall. “The Weighted Moving Average has proven disastrous for education funding. We’ve had years of rapid enrolment growth and insufficient funding. When adjusted for inflation, per-pupil education spending will be down 13 per cent province-wide, compared to 2019.”
“We are now 3,000 teaching positions behind where service levels were at just five years ago. As a result of underfunding, class sizes have grown, programs have been cut and supports for students continue to erode,” says Schilling.