Over one-third of Alberta’s school divisions are cutting teachers next year even though classes are already overcrowded and enrolments are continuing to rise.
Student enrollment and class sizes will meanwhile continue to increase, with the ATA’s data indicating 26,000 additional students are expected to enroll next year compared to last year.
According to the ATA and public education advocates, the cuts are a result of a funding model introduced by the United Conservative government in September 2022 called the “Weighted Moving Average.” The “Weighted Moving Average” calculates student funding over three years using numbers from the previous year, current year and proceeding year. According to Schilling, this system fails to account for enrollment growth and complex challenges in the classroom. “It’s starting to create a crisis,” Schilling told PressProgress. “Talking to my colleagues across the province, staff rooms are being converted into classrooms, library commons are being converted into classrooms, gymnasiums, wherever they can find space.”
Bradley LaFortune, Executive Director with Public Interest Alberta, notes the Alberta Government has launched major advertising campaigns to draw newcomers into the province. LaFortune notes that Calgary has only built one new school even though the Calgary Board of Education is expecting 9,000 new students in the next year.
"What we’re seeing is a cut as a result of a funding formula that’s inaccurate. It doesn’t address new challenges, it doesn’t address population growth. It’s a recipe for disaster. It’s pretty appalling that that’s the state of public education today,” LaFortune said. “We need to stop investing in inaccessible private schools, fund public education, defund private education, and get back to the basics.”