The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Cuts made to school board funding this year will be partially restored in the next school year as a result of a new funding model released with the 2020 provincial budget. But a $212 million bridge fund used to prop up the new funding model has an uncertain future.

School board funding was cut by $126 million (a now revised estimate) for the 2019/20 school year compared to 2018/19. It is estimated that school board funding will increase by $118 million in 2020/21, leaving school boards $9 million short of the funding received last year.

In addition, a $72 million fund for cross-ministry supports has also been cut for next year. The Regional Collaborative Services Delivery (RCSD) was created to help coordinate a number of services between the departments of Education, Health (including Alberta Health Services), Children’s Services and Community and Social Services.

Measured across school board fiscal years, total operational funding from the province to school boards is as follows:

The negative impacts of a net loss of funding will be compounded by increasing enrolment over those three years. The student population is expected to increase from 646,000 to 674,000 between 2018 and 2021. The combined effect of decreased funding and more students will result in a 4.3 per cent cut in per pupil funding, or about $464 per student.

 
ATA president Jason Schilling is expressing concern about how education underfunding will continue to affect schools.

“You don’t need to be good at math to see that more students with no additional funding means larger classes,” he said. “More students will go without learning supports and the individual attention they need to be successful; teachers will not be able to fill the widening gaps.”

Schilling also expressed grave concerns over the loss of Program Unit Funding (PUF) for kindergarten students.

“There will be program cuts to supports for five year olds with severe delays and disabilities,” said Schilling. “The government is downplaying the effect of this cut, but teachers know that these kids benefit greatly from early interventions that will no longer be there. This cut is simply immoral.”

School boards tap own-source revenue

School boards are being urged to maintain staffing levels despite reduced funding in 2019/20. They have been authorized to use reserve funds and to increase parent fees previously capped by the NDP government. This means that consolidated spending will continue to increase even though provincial funding to boards has decreased, the difference being made up from the so-called “own source” revenue of school boards.

Provincial budget documents account for that increase in spending but report spending estimates across government fiscal years that run from April 1 through March 31. Therefore, each government year blends five months of one school

Government spokespeople are pointing to the increase in total operating expense as an increase in education funding, but it is being driven partly by the increase in funding for 2020/21 and partly by the increase in school boards’ use of reserves and own-source revenue in the 2019/20 school year. Across government fiscal years, private school funding has increased by $8 million between 2018/19 and 2020/21.

Schilling is concerned about staffing reductions in the summer ahead.

“School boards, at the insistence of government, kept staffing levels up, but they will not be able to do that again in the year ahead,” said Schilling. “We are predicting the loss of up to 1400 teaching positions across the province.”

New funding model

A new funding model, set for implementation in September 2020, was also introduced with Budget 2020. That new funding model would have implemented a significant further cut in school board funding, but it was buoyed by $212 million in bridge funding for transition to the new funding model.

The new funding model reduces the number of grants provided to boards. Base funding—which makes up about 60 per cent of total grants to boards—is reduced in the new model, but increases have been made in other grant areas, like supports for inclusion, plant operations, and maintenance and transportation. The new funding model also provides dedicated funds for system administration, instead of having school boards fund those central costs out of grants provided for other purposes.

Another significant change in the model uses a WMA to calculate enrolment for funding purposes instead of using an actual student count. The WMA weighs projected enrolment in the year ahead at 50 per cent; current school year enrolment (at budget time in February) at 30 per cent; and the previous year enrolment at 20 per cent. The WMA will smooth out the financial impacts of rapid student growth or decline.

Good, bad and ugly

Looking together at the new funding model and the figures proposed in Budget 2020, here is a quick-hit analysis of the changes coming to school board funding:

For more information related to Education Funding in Budget 2020, please see the following:

• A spreadsheet outlining the funding provided to each board for school boards from 2018/19 – 2020/21. 
• The 2020/21 Projected Operational Funding profiles released with Budget 2020.
• The Funding Manual for School Authorities 2020/21.
• The complete set of modified projected operational funding profiles obtained by the ATA through an earlier FOIP request.