The Calgary public school board unanimously approved its budget for the 2019-20 school year, however a number of questions remain unanswered because of the lack of a provincial budget.
The CBE is expecting an additional 1,800 students in September but the budget is based on assumptions provincial funding will be the same as this school year.
“We are waiting patiently for that information but in the meantime, what I hope what parents will take from it, is that we have done our very best to put forward a prudent budget that will resource our schools the best way that we can for students come the fall,” said board chair Marilyn Dennis after Tuesday’s meeting.
READ MORE: Calgary Board of Education budget calls for increased class sizes and layoffs
“I’m pleased to confirm today that proposed enrollment growth will be fully funded for this upcoming year,” provincial financial minister Travis Toews told the Alberta legislature on Monday, however that message has not been passed on directly to the CBE.
READ MORE: Alberta promises to fund fall school enrolment growth
The CBE dealt with a $40-million shortfall by increasing class size by one student per class, which will save $22 million.
“Knock on wood, all things working out as planned, we anticipate staffing levels across the system for schools and areas to be very similar to this year,” said Brad Grundy, chief financial officer for the public school board.
READ MORE: Calgary schools preparing for expected increase in students, possible teacher loss this fall
“Ideally, we would have hired $22-million worth of staff to maintain class size, maintain programs and services. We can’t do that so we had to dial that back and take out $22 million from that projection and that gets us to our flat funding,” said Bob Cocking, president of ATA local 38, adding that not hiring for growth is actually making cuts.
“Not funding for growth for 1,800 new students actually lowers the number of approximately 220 teachers needed for the next school year.”
The CBE is also cutting $3 million from service units, which include departments such as HR, communications and IT. Ten-million dollars is also being drawn out of operating and capital reserve funds to balance the budget.
Trustee Trina Hurdman says the uncertainty over what funding will be provided by the province has been difficult.
“I think that causes a toll on our system when we think we know what’s going to happen but we’re not sure, so we kind of hold out hope but we don’t want to hold out too much hope. I think it just causes a lot more stress on our system.”
The numbers could change in the fall when the province does release its budget and provides certainty to school boards.
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