The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Funding freeze fails boards and students

“The province’s funding freeze in education has brought seismic shocks to the Calgary Board of Education. ... Reviled in some quarters for running deficits, the Tories are now forcing others to do the same, thus spreading the odium around. ... But the causes of this crisis go much deeper, and they show something very ­different—a board [Calgary Board of Education] that refuses to abandon Calgary’s unfortunate despite slow starvation by the province. Alberta Education has quietly frozen funding in some key social areas for years. This forced the board to take money from other areas to cover shortfalls. ... The CBE might have limped along with this strategy, but three disasters struck almost at once. The province took back $4 million in surplus funds. It froze overall funding. And it pushed the burden of teachers’ salary increases onto the boards. ... Never fear, says Premier Ed Stelmach. The province will pay the boards back eventually. But the CBE asked itself, as it has for several years, who helps today’s disadvantaged students? And it refused to let them down.”
—Don Braid, Calgary Herald, June 8, 2010

Will voters take a toll on trustees or Tories?

“If you don’t believe the provincial government is losing its direction, take a closer look at the financial mess in the education system. The Tories are punishing the Calgary Board of Education—not to mention the students in their care—for staying within its financial means. ... [Education Minister Dave Hancock] is refusing to increase school districts’ budgets to cover this year’s 2.9% pay raise for teachers, a commitment his government agreed to. Instead, he’s urging them to dip into their own cash reserves or run a deficit to cover the difference. ... When asked about it last week, Hancock said if the CBE wants to cut teachers, it’s the board’s decision. They’ll have to answer to Calgary voters this fall. Time will tell if Hancock’s right. Will voters blame local school boards for refusing to run deficits, or will they punish the Tories for mishandling the provinces finances and leaving local authorities to clean up the mess? Stay tuned.”
—Editorial, Edmonton Sun, June 6, 2010

If not funding, how about organization?

“The question is can the classroom teacher be replaced by technology? Personally in my opinion, the best system is having an effective qualified teacher in the classroom. ... However, it may not be realistic for rural schools to expect to have a qualified teacher for every subject in every classroom. ... Videoconferencing is one of the latest ideas offered as a solution to the dilemma. ... It sounds great in theory but like many ideas, there are difficulties, such as problems with the technology. The teacher not only has to be an expert with their subject but also with the technology. They have to monitor their students in the class and on the computer at the same time. ... There is no doubt that having qualified competent teachers present in the classroom is best for the students but if the government is not going to fund that, then they need to ­organize the process at a provincial level to deliver the most ­effective distance program possible.”
—Shauna Burke, St. Paul Journal, May 18, 2010