Funding not keeping up with thousands of new students each year: Edmonton Public Schools

Edmonton needs 50 new schools to open their doors in the next decade in order to meet the growing number of children enrolling.

That’s what the chair of Edmonton Public Schools is estimating based on current enrollment trends. But Julie Kusiek says funding simply isn’t keeping up.

“We are growing quickly, and what the weighted moving average means is that we’re never quite funded for the number of students that we have coming in year after year,” Kusiek told CityNews.

Every year, the number of children enrolling into Edmonton Public Schools increases by about 5,000 students more than the year before. Kusiek says the board expects the number of students in Edmonton Public Schools to increase by 60,000 over the next decade.

While some construction projects are expected to break ground soon, Kusiek says public education is still falling far behind in meeting the demand of a growing population.

Kusiek’s warnings coincide with the Alberta Teachers’ Association launching of a new advertising campaign. “Stop the Excuses” looks at bigger-picture funding issues, and calls out “15 years of chronic underfunding” from provincial NDP and Conservative governments.

The ATA claims Alberta has the lowest-funded public education system in the country.

CityNews reached out to the province, which said the new budget plans to increase funding.

“In Budget 2024, we increased funding by 4.4% per cent, for a record investment of almost $9.3 billion this year, including more than $1.2 billion over three years specifically to address enrollment growth,” said Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides in a statement.

“This funding may be used to hire up to 3,100 additional teachers and classroom support staff, so school authorities can manage class sizes and the growing number of students. $44 million will be provided in 2024-25 to help school authorities support the diverse needs of students and address classroom complexity. This is part of the more than $1.5 billion for Learning Support funding to meet students’ specialized needs.”

Last week, the Alberta government announced a $2.1 billion investment into building more schools, which will help advance 98 school development and modernization projects throughout the province.

But timelines for when construction will begin, and enrollment at these schools will open, is still unclear.

“I would love to say that when construction funding is announced, we get a magic button to push and the doors open, unfortunately it takes three to five years,” Kusiek said.

A new high school in southeast Edmonton, Elder Dr. Francis Whiskeyjack School, is expected to open its doors to about 2,400 new students in the fall.

But Kusiek says that only covers around half of the anticipated 5,000 new students that will enroll into local public schools in the coming years.

Alberta’s education minister was scheduled to provide an update on funding for student supports Wednesday morning.