Alberta teachers call for education bump as per-student spending drops again
A new ad campaign from the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) takes aim at the province for what it calls "chronic underfunding" underscored by last week's budget.
The ATA is launching television, radio, billboard, print and online advertisements this week.
Three spots will focus on the 4.4 per cent funding bump education received in the UCP's latest financial outline.
"We want every Albertan to know clearly and understand that despite having the richest economy in the country, we have the poorest public education system," ATA president Jason Schilling said.
"There's no excusing this."
It's not the first time teachers have taken aim at the UCP, but it may be the most dire situation yet, according to Schilling.
He says student enrolment growth has outpaced teacher population increases by more than two to one.
A 2023 Fraser Institute report shows Alberta saw the fastest growing enrolment rate in Canada last year, but its inflation-adjusted per-student spending is rapidly declining and the worst in the nation.
"Our students deserve better in this province, and the government needs to cut the excuses on why they're not funding education properly," Schilling said.
"If we don't address the learning conditions and the teaching conditions in our schools, teachers are going to leave and that's going to exacerbate the problem."
The spending was defended by the province's finance minister on Tuesday.
"The two big (budget) line items were in health and education," Nate Horner told CTV News.
"It's a priority of Albertans, it's a priority of ours and it's a great budget in that sense."
As Alberta continues to grow, the ATA sees it differently.
"We needed to see in this budget an increase of 13 per cent just to come to the Canadian average in terms of funding per student," Schilling said.
"Not only are they underfunding it," Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley said, "they are disproportionately funding private schools. So our public system is actually getting even less."
The ad campaign, which is teacher-funded, pushes Albertans to stoptheexcuses.ca to learn more.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Large numbers of New York City police officers begin entering Columbia University campus
Large numbers of New York City police officers began entering the Columbia University late Tuesday as dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters remained on the campus.
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Sword-wielding man attacks passersby in London, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 4 others
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers in a northeast London suburb Tuesday, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, British authorities said.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
CSE says it shared information on Chinese hacking of parliamentarians in 2022
While several MPs and senators say they were only recently made aware of China-backed hackers targeting them, the Communications Security Establishment, one of Canada's intelligence agencies, says it shared information about the incident with parliamentary officials in June of 2022.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Eviction for landlord's use was legitimate, despite owners' partial move, B.C. court rules
A B.C. judge has upheld the eviction of a family from their North Vancouver townhouse, finding that the landlords did not take an unreasonable amount of time to move into the home after the tenants vacated it.