School council group faces uncertain future with Alberta budget delay
A 90-year-old provincial organization of parents that trains and advises school councils across Alberta is at risk of paring back services and laying off staff while its provincial funding is in limbo.
Explanations for how the organization wound up in this situation depend on who you ask.
The Alberta School Councils’ Association has been running on contingency funds since July, president Allison Pike said last week.
By the end of September, without information from government about whether its funding will continue, and how much it will receive, the association will begin letting some employees go and charging school councils for professional development workshops usually covered by public funding.
“It is ironic that we’re having to really prove our worth with the government that does say that they care about parent voice,” Pike said.
About 88 per cent of the association’s $740,000 annual budget comes from a conditional grant from the ministry of education, Pike said.
With no spring provincial budget after Alberta voters ushered in a new United Conservative Party government, and no budget coming until October, some organizations and local governments are grappling with funding uncertainty.
Although the association’s funding ran out in July, the education ministry only received the association’s annual grant application on Aug. 20 — 11 business days ago, said Colin Aitchison, press secretary to Education Minister Adriana Lagrange.
The ministry told the association in May it could submit its funding application any time.
Pike said the association usually applies for funding in spring, but a senior ministry official told them not to bother applying until later because applications wouldn’t be examined until fall, due to a delayed provincial budget.
SCHOOL COUNCILS LEGALLY REQUIRED
Alberta’s Education Act, which took effect Sept. 1, requires public, Catholic and francophone schools to have a school council composed of a majority of parents.
According to provincial regulations, school boards must give councils an analysis of provincial exam results and other information, and offer councils an opportunity to provide feedback and advice.
Pike said the association travels to and runs about 300 workshops a year with school councils across the province, and provides consultation on how to run an effective school council.
“Parents don’t necessarily know how to use their voice,” she said.
If the association begins charging for workshops, that may be beyond the budgets of many school councils, who have limited fundraising powers, she said.
“It’s concerning parents might not have a formalized way to have their voices heard,” Pike said.
Aitchison said the ministry is reviewing the grant application. He did not provide a timeline for a decision.
“Our government respects the voices of parents as the primary educators of their children, and encourages them to get involved in our education system,” he said in a Wednesday email.
When the newly-elected NDP government delayed its first budget to October 2015, that government assured organizations their provincial grants would be coming, NDP education critic Sarah Hoffman said last week.
Hoffman pointed to the work the association did in 2018 to organize information and feedback sessions on drafts of a new provincial K-4 curriculum as a tangible public contribution.
“I really feel for them,” she said. “I really feel they provide an important service, and I’m frustrated that they’re left in this limbo while the government decides whether they value their work.”
Our government respects the voices of parents as the primary educators of their children, and encourages them to get involved …