Local schools are facing a $5-million hit to their budgets after the province reduced their funding.
On Thursday, St. Albert Public Schools and St. Albert Greater Catholic Schools released a joint statement showing a funding reduction to both districts for a combined $5 million this year.
That equates to a cut of $2.9 million for St. Albert Public Schools. Next year, the reduction will be $4.6 million. Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools, which includes the communities of St. Albert, Morinville and Legal, will see a cut of $2.5 million this year and $3.6 million next year.
The boards say families should be prepared for less support in classrooms due to a potential increase in class sizes and a potential reduction of staff. Families should also prepare for a potential change to transportation fees, as a key grant that allowed for free busing for eligible families has been discontinued effective this year. The school boards say fee structures had been set months ago and bus passes allocated accordingly.
“This leaves the school divisions with the difficult decision whether or not to try to recoup those fees from families this year or incur deeper transportation deficits,” the release read.
The boards say the funding cuts are made more difficult because they were announced two months into the school year and require immediate adjustments.
Both boards have a steady increase in enrolment trends.
“The bottom line is that our division’s enrolment has increased over last year’s, while our funding has decreased significantly,” said Glenys Edwards, St. Albert Public Schools board chair.
“At a time of continued growth, we have fewer dollars with which to work. As a result of the cuts and the timing, we are now in the position of having to make challenging decisions when we are already well into the school and budget year.”
The boards say they had been prepared for cuts to funding but said the government’s previous assurances that enrolment growth would be funded led them to believe the impacts would not be as significant.
“The reduced funding of approximately four per cent for the 2019-2020 school year compels our board to rectify the deficit as soon as possible,” said Joe Becigneul, board chair for Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools.
“While this announcement will have significant impact on our operations as a division, we hope to address these changes while sustaining optimal resources to support the classroom.”
Further details from each school division will be shared with their respective students, families and staff members as decisions on how to address this shortfall are made within the upcoming days.
