CALGARY -- Education Minister Adriana Lagrange is promising more money in classrooms and more certainty for Alberta school boards planning their budgets.
The new model for provincial funding of Kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms came with many assurances but essentially no numbers to support them. For that, she said, Albertans will have to wait for next week’s provincial budget.
The new approach will use what it calls a "weighted moving average" to measure enrollment, which will in turn determine the amount each school board receives.
Alberta would become the only jurisdiction in Canada to use the model.
And the model is already under fire for effectively reducing money for growing schools in urban areas while increasing money for schools with declining enrollment.
LaGrange defended the move, saying that "efficiencies" and "reduced red tape" would present boards with "opportunities" to channel more money to classrooms.
Tuesday’s announcement also included a reorganizing of grants -- going from 36 different programs down to 15 – covering supports and programs such as English as a Second Language (ESL), nutrition, First Nations and administration.
Some special programs would no longer have to re-evaluate students and apply each year, instead funding students with disabilities or ESL in five-year blocks. The province says the move will result in cost savings for administration.
Last week, the Alberta Teachers Association released documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request which appear to show a $136-million cut to per-student funding, a stark contrast to the UCP government’s promise of no cuts to classrooms.
The province asserts that "efficiencies" will make up any gap but did not provide numbers.
