Alberta’s new funding model receives mixed grades from critics
Alberta’s new education funding model will see government grants allocated based on enrolment over a three-year period, the province announced Tuesday.
Education Minister Adriana Lagrange said the model will give each of the province’s school divisions a greater operational budget by cutting red tape, with measures including eliminating the need for students with disabilities to reapply for extra funding each year.
School districts will also be asked to find administrative efficiencies to save money.
Barbara Silva, spokeswoman for the provincial advocacy group Support Our Students, says it’s unfair to ask school divisions to find cuts themselves, especially when it’s unclear how those cuts could be achieved.
“When the minister speaks to the fact that local school boards are responsible for finding these efficiencies, it is sort of teeing them up for failure,” Silva said, noting that Tuesday’s announcement included little information about the degree of savings that will be utilized for the new funding model.
Lagrange could not provide reporters at the announcement in Edmonton with any details about what those savings will amount to, saying that further information would be available when the province tables its 2020 budget on Feb. 27.
Sarah Bieber, spokeswoman for Kids Come First, another Alberta education advocacy group, said the model seems like a step in the right direction but is difficult to fully assess until the budget is released.
“I like that this new model is more streamlined and has the potential to eliminate some inefficiencies. It is also great that this new model provides schools with a little bit more predictability,” Bieber said.
“Potential challenges with the new funding model may be more apparent when the provincial budget comes out. Some concerns that I have are that there will be enough funding for students with special needs, an area where previous funding has not increased to match the increase in need.”
Local school boards are holding off on evaluating the new model until more details emerge.
“We appreciate Minister Lagrange sharing the new funding and assurance model today in advance of next week’s provincial budget announcement,” said a statement attributed to Calgary Board of Education trustees. “There are still many unknown details for us to fully understand the impact for the Calgary Board of Education.”
Mary Martin, chair of the Calgary Catholic School District, echoed the comments, adding that the government has listened to their concerns and that they are hopeful about the new funding formula.
“The funding of education is complex, and we will need time to determine the impact to classrooms; however, we are cautiously optimistic that these changes will bring predictability of funding for our district,” Martin said in a statement.
Rocky View Schools, which operates schools west, north and east of Calgary, declined to comment, saying they needed time to review the model in the context of the upcoming budget.
The new funding formula will see government grants grow more slowly in divisions where enrolment is rising. Conversely, grants drop more slowly in divisions where enrolment is falling.
The 2019 budget, unveiled last October, allocated $8.2 billion each year to K-12 education through 2023.
While Lagrange has said that the province maintained education funding, critics say that with growing class sizes, this amounts to a cut to education.
“When you increase the number of students that have to access that funding, the per-student amount is less and less,” Silva said. “The lived realities of children across the province, and especially in Calgary, is that they’re going to experience cuts. They’re going to lose music teachers, they’re going to lose educational assistants, they’re going to lose librarians.”