A surge in immigration has forced the province of Alberta to dip into its coffers to spend hundreds of millions more on education for the coming year.
The Alberta government has approved an influx of $215 million to be distributed throughout the province’s school boards for the 2024-25 school year. The announcement follows Alberta’s unprecedented population growth, resulting in a surge of new students.
Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said the provincial government seldom announces funding outside of the budget cycle, but the rising cost pressures caused by the population growth had to be addressed immediately.
“I am confident that this new funding will help ensure that Alberta students continue to receive a world-class education,” said Nicolaides.
Calgary Board of Education Chair Patricia Bolger said Calgary schools have seen 15,000 additional students enroll in the last three years. For next year, she expects an additional 8,000 to enroll.
“Together, these increases are enough to fill more than 38 new elementary schools. Right now, more than 150 out of our 251 schools are at or over capacity,” said Bolger.
The board chair of Calgary Catholic Schools, Shannon Cook, said her board expects to contend with 2,800 new students this year.
“Calgary Catholic thanks the Government of Alberta for the additional funding to help address the ongoing pressures of growing enrolment,” she said.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith previously told True North that Alberta’s unprecedented population growth of 200,000 people last year resulted in 22,500 new unfunded students.
True North asked the premier and ministers how this funding would affect the unfunded student population but received no direct response.
The $215 million in funding will be split up, with $125 million allocated towards operational funding and another $90 million meant for modular classrooms.
All school authorities across the province will receive a share of the $125 million increase in operational funding. Funds will be provided based on the number of students each school authority serves.
The base instruction grant rate will be increased by 1% for all schools, and various other specific support grants will be increased by 2%, such as English as a second language.
Because the $125 million is being allocated through rate increases, school boards have complete autonomy and discretion on how they spend the money.
The additional $90 million will be invested to construct and install up to 100 new modular classrooms and relocate up to 50 modular units.
The Alberta government said that these classrooms will provide up to 2,500 new spaces and 1,250 optimized spaces for students in the fastest-growing areas of Calgary and Edmonton.
Nicolaides said that he doesn’t like to call the modular classrooms, which causes him to think of trailers. He prefers “prefabricated classrooms,” which he said are “quite exceptional.”
Over the next three years, Alberta’s provincial government will provide $1.2 billion to address enrolment growth. The funding aims to assist in hiring 3,100 additional teachers and support staff. An additional more than $1.5 billion is being provided to address specialized learning needs in schools.
A record $9.3 billion will be spent on Alberta’s education system in 2024-25.
Editor’s Note: A change was updated to indicate Shannon Cook is the board chair of Calgary Catholic Schools, not Edmonton.
