School boards to push for new ELL curriculum

Number of English learners on the rise

EDMONTON The growing number of schoolchildren not fluent in English should prompt government to create a provincial English language learner curriculum, school trustees from across Alberta said Monday. The provincial government should also restore seven years of extra funding to schools with English language learners (ELLs) enrolled and increase the rate of funding, said trustees at an Alberta School Boards’ Association meeting.

“These are our future citizens,” St. Albert public school trustee Cheryl Dumont said in an interview. “If we can’t have them graduating at the same rates ... and if we can’t have them getting the same marks, etc., as non-English language learners at our school, then we’re at a disadvantage as a society.”

In response, Alberta’s education minister hinted more funding for English language learners may be possible. David Eggen said Monday he’s examined several options — but in a followup email, refused to reveal the options he’s considering, or how much they would cost.

In Edmonton schools, the number of English language learners has ballooned during the last decade or more. Last year, 118,194 Alberta students were ELLs — nearly double the 60,667 enrolled in 2008.

No longer an urban phenomenon, Christ the Redeemer Catholic school board in southern Alberta began to see an influx of ELLs about a decade ago, superintendent Scott Morrison said in an interview Monday. That division has about 20 schools from Canmore to Oyen.

Government spokeswoman Kate Toogood said in an email ELLs are being considered during the current rewriting of Alberta’s K-12 curriculum.

Three-quarters of school boards backed a second motion Monday calling for the provincial government to restore seven years of extra funding for ELLs to schools, and to increase the amount allotted per student. Schools did receive seven years of top-up funding for each ELL until 2013, when government cut it back to five years. School boards receive an extra $1,178.10 per student — an amount that has stayed static since 2013. This year, the government provided $103 million to schools for English language learners and another $34 million to support refugees.

LARRY WONG FILE Pam Schenk, a Grade Two teacher at Jackson Heights School in Edmonton, reads to her class. School trustees would like to see more funding, longer funding, and better support for teaching English language learners in schools.