During the May 26 Calgary Board of Education (CBE) Board of Trustees meeting, trustees unanimously approved the district’s 2026-27 operating budget.

Their approval of the education plan, however, was not so simple.

The CBE has approved the 2026-27 budget. As is required by law, the budget is balanced, with projected revenues of $1.884 billion and operating expenditures of $1.884 billion. No savings will be used to balance the budget.

CBE Board Chair Laura Hack described trustee sentiment surrounding the budget and education funding as a whole as improving.

“I’m happy to support the budget that we see before us here and look forward to the realities of next year and in coming years,” she said.

“Right now, it’s a ‘Yes, and,’ ‘Appreciate this, and we know that there are other areas that we could be addressing.’ There’s never enough education funding, truly.”

More than 90 per cent of the district’s funds will come from the provincial government, an increase of $137 million over last year. Three-and-a-half per cent of funds come from fees, which CBE families will be asked to pony up for come fall.

Per-rider transportation fees will be increasing from $360 in 2025-26 to $500. Parents of students with an additional alternate address will be on the hook for $250 on top of the per-rider fee, up from $180 last year.

The meeting’s agenda read that transportation reserves allowed the CBE to mitigate fee increases in recent years, but with reserves almost fully used and expenses, including fuel costs, continuing to increase, a fee adjustment is necessary to maintain service levels.

CBE Trustee Nancy Close said that though the uptick is understandable from a service reliability and financial sustainability perspective, it is unacceptable from an affordability perspective.

“I’m not sure we are meeting the expectations of families,” she said.

Lunch supervision fees for students in Grades 1-6 will remain the same, at $350 per student, as will student supply fees, which are $20 for Kindergarten students and $40 for Grades 1-6.

Families of students in Grades 7 through 12 are responsible for purchasing their own student-specific supplies, according to the agenda.

Final year of 2024-2027 CBE Education Plan approved

While introducing item 9.2, CBE Education Plan 2024-2027 year three, Trustee Patricia Bolger said that she’s received many calls and emails from parents and constituents concerned about the removal of the terms diversity and inclusion from the education plan.

Bolger wanted to assure those who are worried that heading into the final year of the current education plan, trustees and officials are focused on refinement, rather than brand-new priorities, she said, speaking to those who are worried about the change.

“One of these adjustments is addressing the priorities of diversity and inclusion and intentionally embedding them within two other goals: learning excellence and well-being,” she said.

As trustees, Bolger said, approving the education plan is not voting in favor of removing diversity and inclusion from the CBE.

Representing Wards 5 and 10, Cynthia Cordova disagreed with her fellow trustee.

“I can’t support this motion. With Bill 25 (An Act to Remove Politics and Ideology from Classrooms and Amend the Education Act) now proclaimed, I believe it is even more important to reinforce the value of our local decision-making within public education,” she said during the meeting.

“The provincial government has made amendments to the Education Act, including the removal of references to welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environments that respect diversity.”

Acting in their elected decision-making position, Cordova said that trustees have a responsibility to listen to students, families, and staff, something the updated education plan was not achieving.

“For me, it is evident that welcoming environments, inclusivity, and diversity continue to be values strongly held by many Calgarians and should remain reflected within the CBE education priorities and commitments,” she said.

Board back and forth

Trustee Jenny Regal said that there are many parts of the education plan she supports, but criticized officials over reliance on student survey and report card data and the removal of the terms diversity and inclusion.

“In my opinion, such a significant change is troubling. I have heard from constituents who share my concerns. We have more than 44,000 English as an additional language students and more than 29,000 students with identified specialized learning needs,” she said.

“I fear we risk two things: one, having those students and their families feel unseen and unimportant, and two, having our greater community lose sight of how diverse the classrooms in the Calgary Board of Education are.”

Regal said that from her perspective, Calgary is one of the most culturally and socially diverse communities in Canada, something that needs to be reflected in board decision-making. 

Continuing the debate portion of the meeting, Trustee Susan Vukadinovic said that some of her fellow trustees’ concerns seemed overblown.

CBE schools are very welcoming, that’s core to what we have and offer, and I don’t see that changing. Inclusion is vital to what we do in terms of welcoming every student. It’s not being taken away,” she said.

“When we talk about learning excellence, we’re not talking about learning excellence for some students; we’re talking about learning excellence for every student every day. Some of these concerns, I think, almost sound hyperbolic, in terms of the concern about what is changing.”

Vukadinovic said that in the education plan, she doesn’t see radical change.

“What I see is a refinement, a shift, that reflects student voice, well-being data, and school experience.”

As school officials and trustees, it’s easy to turn a blind eye to language and small details, Hack said, during her portion of debate.

“My elected role is to first listen to and understand the communities I represent and be able to bring voices to the table. Silence on the removal of these two items (diversity and inclusion) would be compliance with provincial direction,” she said.

“I would be perpetuating systemic inequalities, the very ones that we say as a board priority around equity, if I vote for the current education plan before us. It’s easy to be compliant. I challenge each of my fellow trustees to not take an easy way out and stand behind our board of trustees’ values.”

After each trustee had a chance to speak on the plan, the motion was carried. Vukodinovich, Bolger, Close, and Trustee Charlene May voted for the plan. Cordova, Regel and Hack voted against it.