Education Minister Adriana LaGrange announces new funding for schools on March 20, 2023. (Screengrab)

By Chris Brown

Schools

Province to provide funding for educational assistants, other school support staff

Mar 20, 2023 | 6:11 PM

Alberta’s government is providing more than $125 million in new funding aimed at addressing increasing complexities in the classroom and learning disruptions that are persisting from the pandemic.

Education Minister Adriana LaGrange says the money will help alleviate some of the pressures that teachers, staff and even students are feeling.

Alberta school boards will get $126 million over three years to aid students with diverse cognitive, social and emotional needs, which LaGrange says can be difficult for teachers to manage on their own.

“School authorities will be able to use the funding to hire more educational assistants, increase their hours, provide more training opportunities for staff and/ or hire specialists such as counsellors, psychologists, interpreters or even more teachers,” LaGrange says.

She says the additional support in the classroom will aid teachers so that individual students can receive the focused time and attention they need.

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According to LaGrange, the funding will support the hiring of about 3,000 education staff over the next three years, including teachers, educational assistants, bus drivers and school support staff. The minister did not provide a funding breakdown for each school authority. She says each division will get a base amount and then get additional funds based on student enrolment.

Funding for the upcoming school year will be included in school authorities’ operational funding in September.

Edmonton Public Schools is getting an additional grant of $506,000 for a pilot project for educational assistant internship. Once developed, the program will be available to all school authorities in the province to develop and retain educational assistants in classrooms.

The province is also spending an additional $20 million over the next two years help strengthen elementary students’ reading and math skills and close remaining learning gaps from pandemic-related disruptions.