Alberta announces $426M boost to education budget

Alberta’s budget tour is underway. The government celebrating a $426 million boost to education, but is that enough in a fast-growing province?

At a downtown Edmonton catholic school – Alberta’s education minister celebrates the new budget — and defends it.

“I think our education system is strong,” said Demetrios Nicolaides, Alberta’s Minister of Education. “There’s always room for changes and improvement. As we’re demonstrating today, we’re happy to listen to our teachers, our trustees, and our partners to see how we can make it better.”

The government is boosting education funding to a record $9.88 billion, that’s an increase of $426 million in 2025-26. That number rises to $1.1 billion more — promised over three years.

The more money we receive, the more welcome we will be to those dollars,” said Sandra Palazzo, board chair for the Edmonton Catholic School Division. “That being said, the investment that has been provided so far, is a step in the right direction.”

A majority of the money will go to support growth. Alberta schools now have 89,000 more students than they did in 2020.

The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) insists the province is not keeping up – and the system is in crisis.

The ATA believes the budget is short $900 million a year. That would put Alberta at the Canadian average.

“We’re not asking to be in the top three, like we used to be a decade ago,” said Jason Schilling, the president of the Alberta Teachers Association. “But why not just the Canadian average? Why do we have students going without having their needs met at school? Why do we not have enough teachers? Why do we not have enough schools? Government is dragging their feet on this.”

A small group of protesters showed up to the minister’s announcement.

A former teacher among them — saying Alberta is chronically underfunding education – pointing to more than 6,000 support workers who are on strike for better wages.

“To me, it feels like they’re being ignored, they’re being shut out and that job action needs to be resolved,” said Linda Lindsay, former teacher and aspiring trustee.

The minister repeated the government’s stance that the strike – is not their fault.

“The Government of Alberta doesn’t negotiate directly with CUPE in these strikes, that’s left to the boards who are the direct employer,” said Nicolaides.

The NDP says if the government provided more funding – school boards could then pay workers a living wage.

“69 cents is what their wages have increased in 10 years,” said Amanda Chapman, Alberta NDP education critic. “So, the government needs to come to the table with a plan and with a level of funding that is going to address wages for these critical workers.”

The budget has not yet been approved by legislature vote – but with a UCP majority – it is expected to be finalized by the end of the month.

There is still no end in sight to the strike.