CBE failing to hit class-size targets
In spite of a $52-million investment to reduce class sizes last year, the Calgary Board of Education is still not meeting provincial guidelines of 17 students per teacher in local kindergarten to Grade 3 classrooms.
But the Alberta Teachers’ Association also worries that as class sizes increase, they also grow in complexity, with more students than ever with learning and physical disabilities mixed into the regular classroom.
In the wake of a scathing auditor general’s report last month, which said the province has failed to monitor spending on its multibilliondollar funding program to reduce class sizes, CBE board chair Trina Hurdman said the CBE is investing every dollar its gets from the program to keep class sizes down but it’s still not enough.
“Class-size funding is less than four per cent of our budget,” Hurdman said, estimating that just over $52 million went to reduce class sizes in the CBE’s total $1.4 billion budget last year.
“All of our class-size funding has gone directly to reducing class sizes,” she said
“Research has been clear that early intervention and setting up students for success pays off dividends later on. Focusing on K-3 is a wise investment of funding.”
But Hurdman said that in spite of its efforts, the CBE has only been able to maintain an average of 20 students per class in K-3 classrooms, according to the most recent 2016-17 data.
That’s slightly above the provincial guideline of 17 set by the Alberta Commission on Learning in 2003. But according to the CBE’s 2017 class size survey report, some elementary schools have as many as 24 students in K-3 classes.
And with provincial initiatives to reduce class sizes pared down from targeting K-6 classrooms from 2004, to only K-3 by 2011, critics wonder why the province continues to diminish what needs to be a higher priority.
Last month, auditor general Merwan Saher said the billiondollar program to reduce class sizes hasn’t worked and that there are no processes in place to figure out why.
“Albertans, particularly parents, should be disappointed in that they’ve never had a full explanation of whether this investment of their money ... made a difference,” Saher said at the end of February.
The program has received $2.7 billion since it began in 2004, including $293 million in the 201718 fiscal year.
But the education department doesn’t have any systems in place to figure out where exactly that cash goes, due to a 2008 change in which school boards were no longer required to report how the funding is being used.
Hurdman says the CBE is transparent about how it uses the funding, reiterating that 100 per cent of dollars received from that program are going toward class size reductions.
But ATA president Greg Jeffery worries that with no monitoring system in place, not all local districts are investing wisely, possibly using funding for class size reductions on resources or technology, such as new computers.
Jeffery added that since 2012, when the new inclusion policy brought high-needs students with physical and learning disabilities into the regular classroom, teachers are facing not just larger classrooms, but increasingly complex classrooms.
“We absolutely support inclusion in the classroom. But the supports to help teachers deal with that are just not there,” Jeffery said, adding that teachers are often left on their own to deal with a wide range of special-needs students, including those with autism, ADHD, visual and hearing impairments.
With enrolment hikes seeing an additional 100,000 students added provincewide since 2009, Jeffery says teacher hires have not kept up.
“We’re about 3,000 teachers behind right now. We need to hire at least 2,000 new teachers immediately, and then come up with a plan to add another 1,000 over the next three years.”
Education Minister David Eggen said the province is committed to working with local boards for greater accountability and reporting on results.
“Our government understands that small classes mean more individual attention for students and better learning outcomes. That’s why even in tough times, when others were calling for deep cuts, we made investing in Alberta’s teachers, schools and classrooms a top priority,” Eggen said.
“Greater oversight and accountability may be needed. I’ve always said that tax dollars should be dedicated to the classroom to the greatest extent possible. I’ll continue to work with boards to ensure that’s happening.”