Alberta’s education minister says he believes the $1.1 billion his government has earmarked to hire more teachers and school staff will help address pressures that schools are facing.
“It will alleviate pressure on our classrooms, help manage class sizes and ensure that every student has access to quality education,” Demetrios Nicolaides said at a news conference held at Holy Child Catholic Elementary School in Edmonton on Wednesday.
Nicolaides’ news conference came two weeks after the Alberta government unveiled its 2025 budget, which accounted for the $1.1 billion over three years. The budget still needs to be passed in the legislature.
According to the provincial government, student enrolment at Alberta schools has risen by about 89,000 students since 2020, with much of that enrolment happening in Edmonton, Calgary and surrounding areas.
“I would say that the more money that we receive, the more welcome we will be to those dollars,” said Sandra Palazzo, Edmonton Catholic Schools’ board chair.
“That being said, the investment that has been provided thus far is a step in the right direction.”
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In a news release, the provincial government said the funds will allow school authorities to hire more than 4,000 teachers, education assistants and support staff over the next three years.
A number of school boards in the province are currently seeing support workers taking job action as they demand higher wages. When asked if any of the $1.1 billion could be used to bridge the gap in negotiations between school workers and school boards, Nicolaides said maybe.
The 2025 provincial budget also includes $55 million in “classroom complexity funding,” which the government said is a 20 per cent funding rate increase over the previous year.
“These funds for classroom complexity empower school authorities to bring more resources into classrooms by hiring additional educational assistants, teachers, counsellors, psychologists and interpreters,” a government news release said.
“The classroom complexity funding is part of more than $1.6 billion in learning support funding grants that will be available to school authorities in the 2025-26 fiscal year. These grants provide funds for school authorities to support students with specialized learning needs, as well as groups of students who may need additional learning support, such as refugee students and those learning English as an additional language, and program unit funding.”
The budget also sees the province adopt a new funding model for education, which is based on a two-year enrolment average: 30 per cent of funding will be based on the current year and the rest will be based on projected enrolment for the coming year.
— with files from Erik Bay, Global News
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