Student growth will be funded in Alberta, according to Premier-designate Rachel Notley.
“The people of Alberta voted (on May 5) for a new government that is committed to funding enrolment growth properly,” Notley said in a press release issued May 12. “We will shortly take office and address this matter as quickly as possible, in good time for the next school year.”
The Progressive Conservative (PC) budget, released on March 26, concerned Alberta school boards after it became clear it did not fund student growth in the province. An additional 12,000 students are projected to attend Alberta schools next year, and approximately 36,000 more over the next three years.
RVS Board Chair Colleen Munro said Notley’s commitment was encouraging, but plans for the upcoming school year remained unchanged.
“I think it’s a goodwill gesture. It shows her commitment to the election promises she made, but practically it doesn’t really help us because we’ve been planning this budget since January,” Munro said. “We’ve got a proposed (budget) in place and our schools have been working off of the proposed one, which is pre-election, not post-election.”
“So we hope that happens, we sincerely hope that happens. What is going to happen is unless the board decides otherwise, on June 4 we’ll pass this budget and then if we get more details or information we’ll move as quickly as we can to get that extra money to the classrooms.”
Munro said due to the fact that RVS is a fast-growing school district, a lack of funding significantly impacts the division.
“We are probably (one of) a handful of school boards that are really, really affected by this pre-election budget because we’re growing so fast,” she said. “On a proportional basis, this pre-election budget has a huge impact on us.”
“Students in all classrooms across Alberta need to have the same sort of access to resources and unfortunately those resources cost money.”
As the new NDP government gets set to take office by May 26, Munro said she hoped to see a “fresh start” from the Province with education funding.
“What has to happen sooner rather than later is some sort of announcement about details with regard to how she’s going to follow up on her campaign promises, whether it’s unfreezing enrolment and funding it at X amount of dollars or advancing X amount of dollars for bridge funding to get you through to Sept. 30,” she said. “As soon as we get some details, we are going to be very nimble in getting that money out to the classroom. We have a plan.”
