Landon Fritz teaches to his Grade 4/5 split class at St. Louis School last fall. Schools in Medicine Hat will have to operate with more than $1 million less funding this fall.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
School boards in Medicine Hat will experience a funding cut of more than $1 million next semester, the highest in the province dollar-wise according to its projected operational funding for the 2024/24 school year.
The report published May 6 shows Medicine Hat tops the list of all 13 schools boards across the province that will experience funding cuts next fall, with a decrease of $1,045,675, or 1.4 per cent.
The Alberta Teachers Association is concerned the budget cuts could lead to larger classrooms, programs cuts and reduced resources available for local students.
President Jason Schilling says Alberta schools receive less funding than any other jurisdiction in Canada and criticizes the UCP’s budget for not investing enough for growth and inflation.
“Teachers are already struggling with class sizes, a lack of resources for students and for students with special needs,” says Schilling. “When the government put out their budget in the spring, it’s a 4.4 per cent increase and it’s still not enough.
“Now we are seeing areas like Medicine Hat, for example, that are looking at over a million dollars being cut from their budget. That’s going to impact problems we see already.”
Schilling explains the budget needed to increase by 13 per cent in funding per student to reach the Canadian average.
“We have a chronic underfunding in education that’s been going on for as long as the UCP government has been in place and even prior to that as well,” says Schilling. “I think that the fact that we’re the least funded educational jurisdiction in Alberta is a shameful legacy for the UCP.”
School divisions in Grande Prairie, High River, Okotoks and Fort Macleod will also experience budget cuts in the upcoming school year.
Schilling explains some of the funding cuts from decreased student enrolment within the region were expected. However other funding profiles show cuts that could impact how schools budget for insurance and utilities.
“Sometimes they take that money from their instructional grant envelope, and that instructional grant is used to pay for teachers, EAS school students and education resources,” he says. “You’re taking from the classroom to pay off other aspects of the operation side of the school.”
Schilling says he is hearing from teachers that school boards which are receiving a funding cut are planning to lay off teachers at the end of the school year and says it’s contrary to the hiring of 3,000 additional school staff over the next three years laid out in the budget.
“That’s not fair to students to have to deal with less because the government is failing to fund their schooling properly.”
The Medicine Hat Roman Catholic Separate School Division will also experience a $131,045 funding cut for next year.
