Alberta Teachers’ Association discover impacts of government cuts to education, demand funding be maintained

“We all saw how the public reacted to it, the Boards started to make cuts. They cut professional development, they started to look for efficiencies (such as trimming spending in terms of travel). And then the ATA filed a FOIP request, and, just like we figured, the number for this year, in terms of funding from the government, was lower than last year.”

MacKay says those cuts affected schools province-wide, including in Grande Prairie.

“Grande Prairie Catholic, they got last year $57,024,000, and this year $56,263,000. Grande Prairie Public last year had $86,189,000, and this year $83,609,000. And Peace Wapiti last year had $71,412,000, and this year $69,227,000.”

FOIP Documents Grande Prairie and District Catholic Schools

FOIP Documents Grande Prairie Public School Division

FOIP Documents Peace Wapiti Public School Division

The budget released in October included a one-time ‘Transition Grant’, which helped mitigate the impact of the cuts, but that won’t be included in the new budget that’s expected to be tabled on February 27.

MacKay says the UCP ran on a platform of maintaining funding, and since being elected have decidedly said they will maintain funding. However, they actually only maintained a base goal, while grants that provide resources to school divisions were cut.

The ATA claims these documents, obtained months after the request was made, shows the impacts of the budget in a much clearer light, as the budget released in October didn’t include the ‘Actuals’ from the previous year, just the ‘Projections’ for 2019-20. The ATA also says that in past budgets, ‘Actuals’ from multiple years were included, to give a clear picture of the cuts, increases, or potential impacts a budget would have on education funding.

MacKay says there is a lot of fear and uncertainty for the future of education funding, and of potential layoffs.

“We teachers talk to each other. The Districts around Grande Prairie haven’t had to lay people off, or anything like that (since the 2019 Budget was released), but unless there’s a change in the upcoming budget, we’re not so sure that we’re not going to see fewer teachers.”

MacKay says they will have to wait and see what the School Boards have to work with when the budget is released, but right now teachers are worried about the future. MacKay adds that usually, the last teachers hired are the first to be let go, meaning if layoffs come, then some young teachers could be out of work. He’s fearful this will lead to many young teachers leaving the region, or even the province, in order to find work.

“We all went through the public school system, or like the public or Catholic school system, and we’ve all seen that. We get a really great, energetic young teacher, and then they’re not back the next year and you wonder why. This is exactly that, like there’s a talent drain that can happen in this kind of circumstance. You want to be able to keep good people. So yeah, that’s absolutely a risk, that we’re going to lose good teachers, and good teachers, like anything else, are hard to find.”

Meanwhile, enrollment continues to increase in School Divisions across Alberta. However, one of the UCP’s cuts was to Class Size funding, which they rolled into the base funding. But, in that same breath, the UCP also ended the requirement that School Boards track class size, which is also a great concern for the ATA.

“So for next year, it’s going to be harder for people to see if our class sizes are going up. In a sense, they kind of turned the lights out on that question. So, it’s going to be harder to see if class sizes go up.”

Without class size tracking, teachers may end up being swamped in overcrowded classes, without the proper data to back up requests for extra resources to ensure the students receive a full and proper education. There may also be problems with future funding if there’s no data on how the school populations are growing, which could also lead to a lack of resources.

MacKay says people are very anxious for this next budget, and her expects to see some push back from the public in the near future.

“I hope people speak up, and say ‘Hey look, this is not what [the UCP] ran on. They ran on a platform that said they were going to protect front line services. There will be no cuts to front line services.’ And the simple fact is School Boards took a cut this year, and if there’s a further cut, then we can expect at some point they’re not going to be able to find money around the margins, and they’re going to have to start cutting staffing positions.”

“That conversation is already happening out there. So, in a sense, I think people are fearing the worst, and if they have further cuts, we’re going to start to see fewer teachers. At the same time, we’re likely to see more kids, but of course, the government made sure that we wouldn’t be able to tell exactly how many in any particular class.”

Neither Alberta’s Ministers of Finance and GP-Wapiti MLA Travis Toews or Minister of Education Adriana LaGrange could be reached for comment.

by Liam Verster

Alberta Teachers’ Association discover impacts of government cuts to education, demand funding be maintained

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