The province is examining its operational budget and says it needs to tighten the fiscal belt in all departments to reduce the financial shortfall.

Teachers were some of Alison Redford's biggest fans when she took over the premier's chair and many applauded her for vowing to put money back into the education system.

Thousands of Alberta teachers reportedly bought PC memberships just to put Redford and her pro-education policies in office.

Now, that promise looks like it will go unfulfilled after it was announced that the province will run a $3 Billion deficit this year.

“Frankly the world has changed and we have some challenges we're facing with respect to being very fiscally disciplined when providing services to Albertans,” said Redford. “There’s been a fundamental shift in terms of the energy economy world-wide. That means that we have to be pragmatic.”

The deficit is three times what the province budgeted for and the premier says all departments need to tighten their belts including education.

School boards say they were counting on the cash to reach a new contract with teachers.

“When we got that commitment from the premier at election time, we were able to start planning out the next three years with funds we knew were coming in,” said Jacquie Hansen from the Alberta School Board Association. “We're back to square one.”

Redford’s opponents say she betrayed the people who put her in office.

“Probably a lot of her supporters feel they were lied to and it's pretty sad,” said Wildrose MLA, Rob Anderson.

“Now it's very clear, based on what school boards were told last night in Calgary, that that is another broken promise of the Redford government. Albertans can't trust Alison Redford and the PC government to deliver on their campaign promises. They can't trust Alison Redford and the PC government to ensure that our school boards get the resources they need to deliver the education that our kids require,” said NDP Leader Brian Mason.

Many of the teachers who supported Redford when she ran for the leadership say they’re now wondering if their faith was misplaced.

“I think the big problem people have right now is we had candidate Redford come in and say she was going to restore funding to education and she did that and there was a lot of optimism and the future looked pretty bright and now we're hearing the future is not bright but very cloudy and uncertain,” said Frank Bruseker from the teachers union.

Brusaker says the end result will likely be seen in increased class sizes and reduced resources.