CALGARY -- The Calgary Board of Education may have found a way to limit teacher layoffs after announcing in November it will terminate 300 temporary teacher contracts on Jan. 2, 2020.
Education Minister Adriana LaGrange told boards across the province on Nov. 27 for this school year only, school boards can seek permission to repurpose some Infrastructure Maintenance and Renewal money, "to support classroom, or school-based, certificated and non-certificated staffing costs," according to the CBE.
The CBE received provincial government approval on Monday to dip into its IMR grant funding. The $37.5-million fund is used for the upkeep of buildings.
At Tuesday’s public board meeting, the CBE announced it will withdraw $15 million from the fund to address "students and schools," said Christopher Usih, chief superintendent of schools.
The remaining $22.5 million will be available to cover any unanticipated repairs, but the boards say they will have to revaluate some proactive construction projects planned for this school year. At the meeting, trustees made the point to note the remaining amount is similar to the board’s total IMR allocation in 2015/16, which was $20.4 million.
In the province’s October budget, the board saw a funding shortfall of $32 million.
The CBE is expected to release a more detailed budget on Tuesday.
