Alberta school board offers possible solution to overcrowding

A school board in southwest Alberta says it doesn't have enough students to fill its seats, so it suggests those in overcrowded school boards could learn there instead. (Pexels)

Hearing stories of schools in larger centres virtually bursting at the seams, one rural school board in southern Alberta is offering up a possible solution.

With low enrolment numbers in some of its settings, trustees with the Livingstone Range School Division wonder if it might make sense to have students from overpopulated schools fill vacant chairs in their classrooms.

“Portables are just very difficult to find,” explains former board chair, now vice-chair, Lacey Poytress. “Here in rural areas, we don't face that same issue of needing more space and portables. In fact, we have room in our schools. We're renovating them. We're modernizing them.”

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With projections by some experts that Alberta's population could balloon to five million by as early as 2025, it's something the provincial government might want to consider.

“We have an amazing growth rate - 200,000 in just the last four or five months,” Poytress added.

“We keep hearing there's no room in the big cities. Send those families to us. Help us get affordable housing in our small towns. Let us fill up our schools and offer these families what you promised them when they came to Alberta. Let us build up our rural communities.”

Last month, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides announced an additional $30 million in funding to help with a burgeoning student population in Alberta schools for the current school year.

According to figures released by the province's Ministry of Education, there were 766,280 K-12 students enrolled for the 2022-23 school year, up sharply from 745,770 the year prior.