A letter from the Calgary Board of Education’s board of trustees to Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides is urging the ministry to revise its funding framework for schools.
The letter – sent on Oct. 30 and released publicly on Thursday – says the current weighted moving average funding framework is inadequate because it has not been adjusted for inflation. Patricia Bolger, chair of the CBE’s board of trustees, wrote that inflation has eroded the CBE’s purchasing power by more than 20 per cent because funding hasn’t increased since the2018-2019 academic year.
The cost of labour has also increased by about eight per cent and the funding that would have enabled the CBE to hire 100 more teachers in the 2018-2019 school year can only hire 92 teachers in the 2024-2025 school year, Bolger wrote. The province’s operations and maintenance grant also does not fully cover actual costs, and the CBE was forced to redirect money (often from education grants) to fund operating costs, she added.
Previously, LWC reported that the CBE’s accumulated operational surplus (ASO) saw a more than $43.8 million deficit according to financial statements covering the 2023-2024 fiscal year. The unrestricted deficit more than doubled the deficit from the 2022-23 fiscal year at around $21.1 million. The ASO is expected to be around $1.5 million after accounting for reserve provisions.
Ideally, the new funding model will include actual cost information when determining grant amounts, the letter read. The new funding model will also be “simple and flexible” and provide transparency to families, trustees, teachers and staff, Bolger said.
“We know that we’re providing a world-class education to one in six students in Alberta, and that’s certainly worth protecting. We do excel in provincial and international testing, and we want to continue to do so,” Bolger told LWC.
“I think just over the past several years, with flat funding, we’re starting to feel the effects that have been compounded with inflation … Our increasing enrollment for sure, as well as the complexity in our schools. So we’re just reaching a point where it’s becoming more and more challenging to stretch the dollar.”
Further conversation with the province is welcomed, said the CBE board chair
The letter also said around $1 billion is needed to be injected into the public education system in Alberta to bring per-student funding in the province in line with the national average. According to a Fraser Institute report published in August, Alberta had the lowest per-student funding among the 10 provinces. Alberta also saw a 17.2 per cent decline in per-student spending when adjusted for inflation.
If the $1 billion was added today, the impact to the CBE would be around $180 million, Bolger added. Most of the funding will go to retaining and hiring more staff members as well as supporting learning and teaching.
“I think that just seemed like a reasonable place to be for a world-class education system, and it would certainly do a ton to help reduce class size, address the needs in our school, and, of course, [help] the thousands of newcomers to Canada that we have that also require additional supports,” Bolger said.
The board chair said she invites Nicolaides to have a conversation with the CBE about this issue, and the minister previously announced that the government is discussing potential changes to the funding model.
“We appreciate it being looked at. Absolutely. But regardless of the funding model, it needs to cover the actual cost of delivering a high-quality education to students, and that cost goes up every single year. So, it’s great to look at the model, but the bottom line is, the increase to the base is critical,” Bolger said.
“You want to know what you’re getting the next year to be able to plan ahead and anticipate … We anticipate growth so you want to be able to plan properly moving forward.”
Minister Nicolaides’ office sent the following emailed statement to LWC.
“Every year, my team and I talk to our school authority partners to get their feedback on the current education funding model so we can review its performance,” the statement read.
“We are working on an alternative funding model and are confident that we will be able to revise the funding model to better meet the emerging needs of all school authorities.”
