Province unveils new education funding formula
EDMONTON School boards will see government funding rise slower than increases in the number of students enrolled, according to a new provincial education funding formula.
A potential funding crunch for Edmonton schools comes as the province changes how it gives money to school boards, moving to a rolling three-year enrolment count from the existing approach of tallying students currently enrolled.
“What we are really trying to do is even out the ebbs and flows of increases and decreases across the system,” Education Minister Adriana Lagrange told reporters at the legislature Tuesday. “What we’re looking at is something boards have been asking for for a very, very long time.”
But the new formula, which takes effect this coming September, should provide schools with adequate funding for the number of students enrolled, which is where it falls short, Edmonton public school board chairwoman Trisha Estabrooks said Tuesday.
“It means that our funding will be based on the number of students we’ve had in our classrooms in previous years,” Estabrooks said.
“In essence, it’s sort of like looking in the rear-view mirror, and we can never catch up.”
The first revamp of Alberta’s school funding calculations in 15 years also simplifies funding for high school students and eliminates the need for students with disabilities to re-qualify for extra funding each year. Those changes are meant to cut red tape and reduce administrative costs for schools.
Barry Litun, executive director of the College of Alberta School Superintendents, said school division staff are now busy with onerous, government-required tasks such as tallying each high school student’s yearly course load and requesting students with disabilities be reassessed.
Next year, those employees can redirect their efforts to tasks that will more directly benefit students, Litun said.
Although Lagrange said some money spent on administrative work would be redirected to classrooms, she would not provide a dollar estimate Tuesday of how much schools would save by eliminating bureaucracy. Under the new formula, every public, Catholic and francophone school board in Alberta will receive more funding next school year than they are this year, she said.
However, Alberta’s 61 school boards received $136 million less this school year compared to 2018-19, according to government documents obtained by the Alberta Teachers’ Association.
School boards will now know by early spring what funding they can expect for the coming year, which should help trustees plan budgets. However, if more students enrol than predicted, there will be no more mid-year funding top-ups — schools will have to wait until the following year. Based on feedback from school boards and other education groups, the ministry of education will whittle down 36 existing school grants to 15. Extra funding will be provided based on numbers of students who have disabilities, medical needs, are refugees, identify as Indigenous, or are learning to speak English.
Schools in more remote areas or in neighbourhoods with high poverty rates will also receive extra to account for additional expenses.
The government will also give each board or school a set amount for administrative costs they cannot exceed. Alberta Education began reviewing the formula last September at the minister’s behest. The changes are supposed to give school trustees more flexibility in how to spend money, Lagrange said.
Just how much school boards, and charter and private schools will be allotted will remain under wraps until the government unveils the provincial budget Feb. 27. Private schools will continue to receive 70 per cent of the amount per student that public schools receive.