The Alberta Governmentís 2013 budget includes a $6.1 billion increase in education spending, but local MLA and Minister of Education Jeff Johnson says that could be offset by growing demands on classroom space.
ìThereís no question itís a tough budget, but these are pretty interesting times for Alberta, and weíre in a position where we just have to live within our means and rein in some of the spending,î he said.
Johnson said he was impressed that Alberta Premier Alison Redford ìwent out of her way to protect education,î and although some ministries experienced budget cuts or reductions, education received a ìslight increaseî in spending.
According to a March 7 press release, Redford is committing $500 million as a first step in a planned $2 billion investment in 50 new schools and 70 school modernizations.
ìWeíve got to build the schools for those children. You canít just say, ëWe donít have the cash in the bank, weíre not building a school.í Weíve got to provide spaces for our schools.î
In capital spending, education received a three-per-cent increase, but in operational spending there was only a 0.6-per-cent (or $41 million) increase.
ìOn a $6 billion budget, thatís not a lot of money, but at least itís not a cut,î said Johnson.
The Ministry of Education has an operating budget of $6 billion, says the MLA, but his department only has a $130 million budget.
Johnson said his department has to cut 86 positions, equal to $18 million, eliminating 15 per cent of his budget, which he called ìsignificant.î
ìWeíre spending more than any other province on all of our services. It doesnít matter whether you look at it on a per capita basis, or a per-student or per-patient basis, or what our wages are in the public sector ñ we just have to live within our means for a few years here, and thatís going to mean tightening our belts.î
Alberta Education is expecting a two-per-cent increase in student enrollment in 2014, which will mean an additional 12,000 more students in need of desks and classrooms. The MLA noted it will be a challenge to accommodate all these new students in the years ahead.
By all accounts, itís a tough budget.
ìIn this budget alone, thereís $800 million toward teacher pensions, so those costs increase every year. There are some things we canít do anything about,î said Johnson. ìI mean, we could freeze the budget, but there are inflationary costs that are just part of life, and many of those have to do with our workforce. So that means youíve got to find other areas to cut, if youíre going to keep the same amount of money in the classroom.î
One item being eliminated is the Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI), something the MLA describes as having been a ìreally good project,î and one that was more geared towards professional development practices for teachers, innovation and research, rather than direct classroom instruction.
Johnson said cutting AISI was ìone of those really difficult decisionsî as it was ìa really valuable initiative, but itís just not something that we can fund right now if we are going to live within our means and put the money in the classroom.î
Although the overall budget has increased, Johnson pointed out that 37 out of 62 school boards will have less funding next school year than this year due to the grant cuts.
This yearís budget includes no tax rate increases, $15 billion in infrastructure projects and 2.9-per-cent economic growth expected this year for the province.
ìThe nice thing about this budget, from my perspective, is that weíre going to continue with the capital spending, which is critical if you want to grow your economy,î said Johnson.
ìIf you want to provide hospital beds, seniors facilities, and schools, we have to keep building the capital. So, weíre doing that infrastructure investment. Iím very happy about that. Iím happy that we made the choice to borrow money, but only for capital, not for operating.î
Johnson said the benefit of capital spending will be that for average Albertans there will be more hospital beds, seniors centres and classroom space available.
Nevertheless, Johnson conceded there are budget cuts and restrictions and that one of his concerns is the wage freeze for public sector workers for at least three years, including all government employees, politicians, nurses, doctors and teachers.
The MLA said, ìwe are in a good position to weather that, because we are the best paid in the country in virtually all of those categories, so I think we can make due and I think we can live within our means and make that work.î
