School funding and curriculum still under review

By Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean Times Contributor

Most teachers will be heading back to work ahead of students this week, while funding and the curriculum direction are still, or newly, under review.
The “blue ribbon panel”, appointed by the new UCP government in May, was to look at ways to bring Alberta’s budget back to balance without increasing taxes. Since the original announcement, the government of Alberta has implemented tax cuts for corporations, removed the $1.75 billion revenue from the carbon tax, and also offered a secondary tax cut – the education tax portion – to oil and natural gas producers in rural Alberta.
“This exceptional panel will offer great experience and expertise to give us an honest read of the province’s finances, and a road map for fiscal responsibility” Premier Jason Kenney said of the blue ribbon panel.
Members of the panel included Janice McKinnon, former Saskatchewan finance minister and Dave Mowat, former president and CEO of ATB Financial.
The blue ribbon panel’s report was delivered to the Alberta finance department on Aug. 15 and is expected to be released to the public sometime around the Labour Day weekend.
The province’s funding responsibilities, including education, were put on hold and interim supply of half the requested budgetary expenses was released to publicly funded service providers. Service providers will not know if their full funding needs will be met until the province creates its first budget after the federal election in October.
Alberta schools are also waiting to hear what will happen with the new education curriculum that was initially slated for implementation for kindergarten to Grade 4 classes this September. The review began almost a decade, or three provincial governments, ago. Public consultations were held in the fall of 2016, spring of 2017 and spring of 2018.
On Aug. 22, the government announced a new curriculum advisory panel that would “provide advice on the development of future kindergarten to Grade 12 curriculum,” and “will provide their final report to the Education Minister by Dec. 20, 2019,” according to a press release.
The panel is being chaired by Angus McBeath, former superintendent of Edmonton Public Schools.
“Members of the panel represent all walks of life,” McBeath said, “from university to technical schools, social services, industry and the volunteer community. As a former teacher and former superintendent, I am excited to get to work to fulfill the mandate afforded to us.”
The panel of 12 includes four former K-12 educators, including McBeath.