Ottawa commits $262 million to Alberta schools

PM announces funds to address parents’ concerns about safety

Alberta will receive approximately $262 million from the federal government to help the province deal with school safety concerns as classes begin next week.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced up to $2 billion towards a new Safe Return to Class Fund Wednesday to top up provincial funding efforts.

The funding is in addition to the more than $19 billion previously announced under the Safe Restart Agreement and will be handed out in two instalments, with the first in the fall and the second available in early 2021.

Trudeau said that although education is a provincial responsibility, parents have said they are “extremely worried” and provinces needed more support to ensure kids and teachers are safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“No parent should be losing sleep because they have to go back to work but aren’t confident schools are properly prepared,” Trudeau said at a morning news conference.

Provinces and territories will have flexibility to spend the money as they see fit, and the funding will be distributed according to the number of children aged between four and 18 years old, with a $2 million base amount provided to each jurisdiction.

Alberta’s share is $262.84 million, according to the federal government’s release.

Colin Aitchison, press secretary to Education Minister Adriana Lagrange, said in a statement the ministry appreciated the funding, but did not reveal how the ministry would allocate it to school boards.

“Given this is a very sudden announcement by the federal government, officials from Alberta Education are currently reviewing the program details in order to determine how to best distribute this funding to school authorities quickly and effectively,” he said.

Aitchison pointed to support the province has provided to K-12 education, including fast-tracking $250 million in spending on infrastructure and repair and increasing school authority funding by $120 million for the upcoming school year.

It has also committed $10 million towards personal protective equipment such as two reusable masks for each student and staff member, face shields, thermometers and hand sanitizer in schools.

The province also approved the use of $363 million in board reserves, a move that will be of little help to some school boards.

Edmonton Public Schools was forced to spend much of its reserves before the COVID -19 pandemic hit because the provincial budget was essentially frozen while school enrolment continued to increase.

Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling said in an interview Wednesday the federal cash should not go toward budget initiatives that have already been announced, but instead toward hiring teachers to address concerns over class sizes and social distancing, as well as educational assistants and custodial staff.

“If (the provincial government) is listening to the people who are talking to them, then they should be spending that money that way. I would worry that this would fall into a bit of a shell game,” he said.

He also said there is going to be a continued need for more sanitizer and Covid-19-specific supplies throughout the school year.

“We still have a lot of pandemic ahead of us,” said Schilling, adding school boards can hire quickly based on enrolment needs.

Edmonton Public Schools board chairwoman Trisha Estabrooks said in a statement the support is welcome, but the district remains disappointed the province has not provided additional funding support specific to school re-entry during COVID-19.

“We do not have details on what this funding means for our division and our students. I strongly encourage the provincial government to involve school boards in conversations around how these funds will be used and distributed.

“We know our schools and students, and their needs, best,” she said.

At a Wednesday news conference, NDP education critic Sarah Hoffman said Premier Jason Kenney and Lagrange have done little to prepare schools and reiterated the need for adequate staffing and to cap the number of students in classes.

“The money should have been out the door back when the government was getting ready to reopen schools months ago. They should have been making a plan on how they were going to do this safely,” Hoffman said, calling for the province to dole out the federal money as an increase to per-student grants to schools as quickly as possible.

Sandra Palazzo, board chairwoman at Edmonton Catholic Schools, said in a statement the district looks forward to getting the details on how the funding will translate into additional supports for schools.

Meanwhile, the federal government also announced $112 million toward First Nations to support a safe return to schools on reserves, which fall under federal jurisdiction.