Alberta said it will be increasing its K-12 capital budget to $8.6 billion to fast-track school builds over the next three years, including projects in Calgary.
The new School Construction Accelerator Program aims to build around 50,000 new student spaces over the next three years and another 150,000 new spaces over the next four years after that. The program will also fund over 20,000 new modular classroom spaces over the next for years.
Part of the funding will also pilot a Charter School Accelerator Program which aims to add 12,500 new charter school spaces over the next three years, as well as a new School Capital Pilot Program for non-profit private schools to create “thousands of new independent school student spaces at a reduced per-student cost to taxpayers.”
“I’m asking all school boards to work with their respective municipalities and the Ministry of Education on an expedited basis to get priority school sites permitted, serviced and otherwise prepared for immediate construction work. If you can prepare the sites, the province will have the dollars set aside to get shovels in the ground,” Premier Danielle Smith said in a pre-recorded televised address on Tuesday evening.
“Same goes for our charter schools. Bring us proposals and permits for new shovel ready projects and renovations that will result in new student spaces, and we will work with you on making an appropriate level of funding available depending on the project and municipalities.”
The move aims to address the large population growth this year.
According to data from the Alberta government, the province’s population grew by around 204,677 people – or 4.41 per cent – between April 1, 2023 and April 2024. The province also said this is the highest year-over-year growth rate since 1981.
Locally, the Calgary Board of Education has been seeing student population growth for a few years. CBE officials projected 147,500 students enrolled in schools by Sept. 30, 2024. This is a projected 6.7 per cent increase since Sept. 30, 2023 and a 12.41 per cent increase since Sept. 30, 2022.
The Calgary Catholic School District also saw student enrolment numbers increase across the board. The district projected enrolment at 64,514 students by Sept. 30, 2024, a projected increase of around 4.7 per cent since the same time period last year. This is also a 9.57 per cent increase since Sept. 30, 2022.
“People from all over Canada and around the world are still coming to our province by the tens of thousands each month, and we have to do what we can to keep up,” Smith said during her address.
“After several years of very modest student enrollment growth from around 2015 through the COVID years, Alberta’s student population is now surging in an unprecedented fashion. We estimate that it is increasing about 33,000 students per year. That is the equivalent to roughly 35 new schools each year.
“Fortunately, our province enjoyed a provincial surplus this past year, and prospects for another modest surplus this year are looking good. That strong financial position gives us the flexibility we need to make a large one time capital investment into our K to 12 school system to manage this massive growth without having to go into deficit.”
Reporters were not given the opportunity to ask questions about Smith’s address. However, a news conference about new school spaces is scheduled for Wednesday morning in Calgary.
Alberta NDP responds
Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi applauded the United Conservative government’s efforts to build new schools but questioned the timing of the announcement.
“By announcing this all at once, they’ve massively increased the inflation and the cost of construction for every single one of those schools. They’ve sucked up the entire construction workforce, which is also needed to build houses, to build all the other things that we need for growing communities,” Nenshi said at a news conference following Smith’s address.
“The premier can act surprised as much as she wants. We all knew this was happening. Teachers knew, parents knew, students knew, anyone who was paying attention knew that this is what was happening in our schools, and it was happening every single day.”
Nenshi also criticized the decision to fund private school spaces and said this is the first time in Canadian history that public taxpayer money is going to build private schools. He said parents should be able to make choices they think are best for their child’s education, as long as every single kid still has access to public education.
“Let’s be clear on what that means. It means that the schools will not be built in the neighbourhoods where they are needed, in the brand new neighbourhoods where young families are moving. It means we give up on economies of scale, and it means that those schools don’t necessarily serve every student in the community,” he told reporters.
“Using that money to build public schools is more efficient, it’s smarter, it’s faster, and it will serve students better.
No information about long-term funding for school boards
It isn’t clear if the government will increase per-student funding, which has been frozen since 2018.
Felicia Zuniga, a communications officer with the CCSD, told LiveWire Calgary in an interview before Smith’s address that the district is projecting a deficit of $21.5 million as part of the 2024-2025 operating budget despite additional funding from the Ministry of Education.
Earlier this year, the province announced an additional $125 million in funding for Alberta school authorities for the 2024-2025 school year. The CCSD will receive 7.8 per cent of the total amount.
“One-time funding injections help us, but we need sustainable long-term funding. [Financial challenges] are compounded by a few things, like higher enrolments. District-wide, our utilization rate is over 90 per cent and many of our 118 schools are at or above capacity,” Zuniga said.
“The way our government funds schools … It just hasn’t increased since the fall of 2018, so a student right now is still funded at the same level as they were in the 2018-2019 school year while things like taxes, water, desks and school buildings cost more.
“We’ll be unable to sustain our current spending levels by drawing upon our savings in the future. Right now, we’re OK but we’re worried about next year and the following year. Eventually, our savings will run out.”
Patricia Bolger, board chair for the CBE’s Board of Trustees, said the CBE received an additional $85 million from the government compared to the previous school year but the per-student funding has not kept up with inflation.
Bolger added the CBE has directed the additional funding to classrooms but emphasized the need for long-term funding.
“The Board of Trustees advocates on behalf of public education and the best interests of students in the CBE. For the past few years, the Board has advocated for education funding to keep pace with escalating student enrolment and rising costs, and the building of critically needed new learning spaces,” Bolger said in an emailed statement on Monday.
“We continue to work together with Alberta Education to address challenges related to our growing system and the increase in students with a variety of complex learning needs.”
Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides sent LWC an email on Monday saying the province increased base instruction grants for school authorities across the province and to targeted programs and services. The CCSD and CBE received $2 billion in funding, which includes $147 million in new funding this year.
“Further to this, Since 2019, Alberta’s government has committed to 32 school projects in the Calgary Metropolitan Region (CMR) to add more than 28,900 new and modernized student spaces. In addition to the school projects, we are investing in 92 new modular classrooms and relocating 24 of them in the CMR this upcoming school year to create nearly 2,300 student spaces in high growth communities,” the minister’s email reads.
Nenshi said it is “typical” of the United Conservative government to announce the capital funding but not provide information on how to staff those places.
“We still have educational assistants in this province who haven’t been given a raise in over a decade. We still have a huge shortage of teachers, and we have teachers leaving the profession every day because of how badly they’re being treated by this government,” he told reporters.
