Education system receives boost

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

The reversal of previously proposed budget cuts through a healthy financial infusion into the education budget by the New Democratic Party (NDP) government was met with approval among the province’s school boards, who faced million-dollar shortfalls and prohibited access to financial reserves.
The newly-formed Alberta government recently announced a $103 million spending spree in favour of education, which under the proposed Progressive Conservative budget was going to lose funds in areas including special education, transportation, planned operations, and maintenance. Alberta school boards were also barred from accessing their reserves.
“To be honest, we’ve dealt with cuts before but not being able to access our reserves, that was very unusual,” said Golden Hills School Division Superintendent Bevan Daverne. “They were saying the money you set aside for various projects and initiatives, now we’re not going to let you access it. That was a very unusual step and had not happened ever in a budget situation with school boards with locally elected school districts in the province.”
NDP’s multi-million dollar investment was publicized less than a month after the NDP ended Alberta’s 44-year-old Progressive Conservative reign. The announcement was made at an opportune time, when Golden Hills School Division (GHSD) prepared to combat a $1.8 million deficit – equivalent to almost two per cent of its eight-figure budget.
With enrolment on the rise and funding based on the number of students registered, this year’s overall budget was projected at $75 million. A whopping 92 per cent of the budget is provided through the provincial government, while the remainder is an accumulation of their international program, a tuition agreement with Siksika First Nation and other means making up the remaining eight percent.
Pleased with the changes to the cash-strapped education system, including funding for growth, Daverne said the money would provide a much-needed boost to transportation and maintenance.
“We just don’t get quite enough money that we need to maintain our schools and to heat them and to keep the lights on … that’s another area where we dip in to our reserves a little bit to make that work,” said Daverne. “As a rural board we cover a large area in Golden Hills, and the transportation dollars don’t quite cover what we need to do for the kids. We know we have a deficit there … and we’ve been really short and challenged in the area of our planned operations, maintenance, and transportation.”
Daverne added that GHSD recorded the largest growth numbers of any board in the province. With a lack of funding for growth prior, the board focused on changing programming and developing relationships with parents. Although the welcomed revisions allow the school board to continue on their current path and support expected future growth, some wonder where the money will be coming from.
“I’m very pleased to see the money appropriated back towards education, but my concern is, the money actually has to come from somewhere and right now there’s no budget and the government has not indicated where that money is going to come from,” said Wildrose Party Shadow Minister of Finance Derek Fildebrandt.
“There are a lot of spending promises, some of which I would support, but are unfunded. We have to find out if that money is going to come from somewhere else, or is it going to come from Alberta taking on higher taxes, or is it going to come from higher debt. My preference is that this money come from areas of lesser spending priority.”
The NDP government announced intentions of requesting approval from the legislature of an interim supply budget to finance government operations until the release of a new budget in the fall.
For now, however, Alberta school boards are heaving a sigh of relief and steering their focus back to the amelioration of Alberta education.