After a report prepared by school board administrators painted a grim picture of the Edmonton Public School Board’s finances, trustees voted unanimously in support of a proposed 2024-25 budget on Friday, even though many raised concerns about it.
“It really is with a heavy heart I support this,” Trustee Sherri O’Keefe noted before the vote was held, describing the spending plan as “a tragic budget.”
“It was truly a tough and disheartening read.”
Trisha Estabrooks was one of many trustees who raised concerns about how public education is currently funded in Alberta, pointing to concerns raised ever since the provincial government implemented its “weighted moving average” funding formula, which calculates per-student funding.
“The funding system is broken,” she said. “It’s clear we cannot continue at this pace.
“The province has work to do.”
While the EPSB’s forecasted revenues for 2024-25 are estimated to be $1.35 billion, which would be an increase of about $65.7 million from the 2023-24 budget, the school division faces significant challenges, including soaring growth in the number of students in its schools, increased cost of building maintenance, rising utility costs and rising staffing costs.
The report presented to trustees indicated total enrolment growth is projected to increase by approximately 5,996 students, or 5.2 per cent, compared to the September 2023 enrolment counts.
Jan Sawyer, the vice-chair of the EPSB, asked trustees to consider a scenario in which two schools serve a total of 5,000 students but only have four teachers between them.
“That would be absurd,” she said. “(But) that’s what we are being funded for. … That’s ridiculous.
“This budget is probably more a story of how we are underfunded by the province.”
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In a statement, Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides called the province’s education system “world class.” He said last year the province’s population grew by 200,000 and the province is “investing more in education to help accommodate this historic growth.”
“Over the next three years, we have planned to invest more than $1.2 billion, which will go directly to hiring more teachers and other educational staff.”
Julie Kusiek, the board chair, acknowledged that while the EPSB is getting a budget increase, “appearances can be deceiving” when considering the costs the division is facing.
However, Kusiek noted Nicolaides has suggested recently he wants to learn more about the school board’s current challenges and to hear ideas on how to move forward.
“I refuse to give up hope,” she said, adding that she hopes the school board will be able to work out a “solution-oriented” plan “in collaboration with government.”
The Alberta government’s budget that was unveiled in February included an overall increase of 4.4 per cent in education spending provincewide, with the goal of having that funding address enrolment growth, the need to hire more education staff, and to support students with specialized needs.
“There were no grant funding rate increases and no inflationary relief was provided in this budget,” reads the report presented to trustees by EPSB administrators.
The report also cited data from Statistics Canada which shows that inflation increased by 4.5 per cent in 2023 compared to 2022.
“Although this is a decrease from the 9.4 per cent prior year increase, with no increase to the grant funding rates, the spending power of school budgets has decreased.”
The report proposed that the EPSB use a “net drawdown” of $11.4 million of accumulated operating surplus funds, which would leave the school board with about $20 million in those funds for future years.
Supt. Darrel Robertson told trustees that while the school board “will continue to prioritize kids,” he is concerned about the future of its surplus funds and the flexibility they provide.
“Something does need to change,” he said. “Our fixed costs are increasing, our staff costs are increasing.
“I don’t see an end to those escalating costs. Provincially, we do need to respond to a changing reality.”
Robertson added that he believes the EPSB continues to be innovative “in the face of challenging circumstances,” but that innovation can only go so far.
Trustee Dawn Hancock noted the EPSB is also “coming up to $1 billion in deferred maintenance.”
“This funding model is not in the best interest of students. And I truly hope that our government sees this and makes a change.”
Trustee Marcia Hole said she believes what she suggested is the province’s insufficient investment into education comes across as a “deliberate decrease to funding public education.”
“Behind each one of those numbers is a student, is somebody’s child,” she said.
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