The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) said in a statement that while the province's announcement on capital funding for schools is important, it will not solve ongoing issues in education.
"Brick and mortar solutions will not solve the ongoing problems of class size and composition, teacher retention and recruitment, and inadequate support for students, particularly those with special learning needs," The ATA said in a statement on Wednesday.
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The organization was also critical of the timeline set by the government for the capital funding.
"...Any relief for the operational and funding crisis must wait until Budget 2025, [which] means another year of overcrowded classrooms, unmet needs, decreased support for students with complex issues and a lack of learning resources. Funnelling public money to charter and private schools that are not accessible to all families takes away from most of Alberta’s students."
ATA President Jason Schilling stated that creating a fast track to build new schools may be a place to start, but it is only a start.
"Public education needs to work for the students of today and the students of tomorrow. “Students and teachers are still facing conditions that are not fair or sustainable. New buildings are welcomed, but what good are schools without teachers?" Schilling asked.
Premier Smith was asked about operational funding for schools during Wednesday's announcement, to which she replied that the government had already previously announced additional funding over the summer.
"We have funding for more modulars, but we also have funding to be able to manage growth pressures, and we're working now on identifying if we need to modify our funding model," she said.
Smith explained that the funding model worked with declining enrollment and a declining population.
"It works for declining school boards because it's a three-year weighted average, and it's to protect school boards so that they don't end up with a dramatic reduction. But this huge surge is not as responsive as we need it to be for enrollment growth. So the Minister is going through the Treasury Board process and working on an alternative model."
On July 23, the province announced that it would inject $215 million into the education system to address student growth.
"Every school authority across the province will receive a share of the $125-million increase for operational funding. The amount available for each school authority will be determined based on the number of students it serves. This new funding can be used by school authorities to ensure they are equipped to support enrolment growth by hiring additional teachers and educational assistants. Additionally, this funding may be used to ensure rising operating costs do not take away from student learning," the province previously noted.
The government also said it would invest $90 million this school year to support the construction and installation of up to 100 new modular classrooms and the relocation of up to 50 modular units.
"These modular classrooms will provide school authorities with up to 2,500 new spaces and 1,250 optimized spaces for students in the province’s fastest-growing communities in the Calgary metropolitan region and Edmonton during the 2024-25 school year."
Rocky View Schools was slated to receive up to 12 new modular classrooms and have up to 12 relocated.
Local reaction
The Rocky View School Division said that while they appreciated the government's plan, they would wait for more details.
"Mid-year announcements, the flexibility to accelerate timelines for urgent projects when they are ready to move forward, additional modulars and increased funding to help maintain our existing, over-utilized schools and aging facilities provides us with hope future relief is on the way," RVS stated in a written email.
The division added that it would await 'further certainty' from the government on its projects to help RVS make informed decisions about addressing growing enrolment and supporting all students across the division.
Details of the School Construction Accelerator Program unveiled
Officials announced the details of the School Construction Accelerator Program yesterday. According to the government, starting in Budget 2025, up to 30 new schools and eight modernizations or replacements will be launched annually for the next three years. Additionally, modular classrooms will add 20,000 new student spaces over four years. The program will also expedite previously approved projects, with 10 priority schools moving to the next stage of construction immediately.
The School Construction Accelerator Program aims to deliver over 200,000 new and modernized student spaces. In the next three years, previously approved projects and modular classrooms will add about 50,000 spaces. The program will create an additional 150,000 spaces, including:
- Over 100,000 new student spaces
- More than 16,600 modernized spaces
- Over 20,000 spaces in new or relocated modular classrooms
- Around 12,500 new public charter school spaces
"I ask our school boards to work with Alberta education and their respective municipalities to move projects forward as quickly as possible. The faster you can complete the planning and design work, the quicker your project can begin construction," said Demetrios Nicolaides, Minister of Education.
Premier Smith also elaborated on how the $8.6 billion would be divided between public, private, and charter schooling.
"I would anticipate that the number of Catholic schools versus public schools would be equivalent to the student enrollment, and I think this student enrollment is about, I want to say, one-third Catholic versus public. Then there's also 12,500 spaces that we'll be doing for charter schools."
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