Pembina Hills trustees welcome funding formula review

Though Pembina Hills trustees would welcome a review of the current enrolment-driven education funding formula as recommended by the Blue Ribbon Panel on Alberta’s Finances, trustees would rather see the review focus on areas like funding transportation based on distances travelled by buses, or for the province to established “base levels of education” for all Alberta students.

That’s according to Pembina Hills board chair Jennifer Tuininga, who the Barrhead Leader reached out to following the publication of the Blue Ribbon Panel report last Tuesday.

The panel, which was headed by former Saskatchewan finance minister Janice MacKinnon, came up with 26 recommendations aimed at balancing the provincial budget by 2022-2023.

“In order to balance the budget … there can be no increases in government expenditures for four years, and in fact, the provincial government will actually need to reduce operating spending by at least $600 million and substantially reduce capital spending,” the panel’s report stated.

“This is a significant challenge and will require the government to rethink how and what services are delivered.”

The 26 recommendations put forward by the  panel touch on a number of areas, including health care spending, post-secondary education, public sector compensation, competitiveness and so on. Only two of the recommendations specifically pertain to K-12 education.

On that subject, the panel found that the current funding formula used in K-12 education has a number of shortcomings. To that end, the panel recommended that the formula be reviewed to ensure enrolment growth is addressed.

To that extent, Tuininga said the Pembina Hills board agrees with the panel. “We are pleased to see that the government is looking at a review of the funding formula,” she added.

However, the panel suggests that the government look at decreasing the percentage of government funding that goes to administration and governance. Currently, the report says that 24.6 per cent of education funding in Alberta goes to administration, as compared to 17 per cent in B.C.

The panel also recommends that the review of the formula examine providing incentives for sharing services and achieving better education outcomes for students, as the funding formula is not linked to boards achieving “the strategic goals of the ministry.”

On the subject of administrative costs, Tuininga pointed out only 3.4 per cent of their provincial funding goes towards board and system administration.

Even so, the board is always looking for ways to reduce expenditures — she said one of the projects that trustees are working on this year is an electoral ward review.

As well, she noted that Pembina Hills already provides transportation services for St. Mary School in Westlock, which is governed by the Evergreen Catholic Separate Regional Division, and the Covenant Canadian Reformed School in Neerlandia.

In fact, the biggest issue facing Pembina Hills is a shortfall in inclusive education funding for students with the highest needs. Tuininga said the 2019-2020 budget estimates $5.2 million in spending on student with high needs, but the division is only getting $3 million in inclusive education funding.

“In addition, as a rural school division, it is difficult to fill essential services such as speech language pathologists, occupational therapists and mental health workers. Or we pay considerably more for the same service,” said Tuininga.

She said trustees would prefer a review of the funding formula focus on the following areas: funding plant operations and maintenance according to the age and size of a division’s buildings, allowing the right-sizing of schools where decreased enrolment has left parts of a school unused, establishing base levels of education for all Alberta students so that they have equity of education and services regardless of geography, funding transportation based on kilometres driven by buses, and emphasizing the accessibility of health care professionals so that all children can access appropriate levels of service.

Tuininga suggested they will be meeting with Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken this week and they will seek clarification on the figures quoted in the report regarding administrative expenses.

“We will continue to work with Alberta Education and other stakeholder organizations as we adapt to the various changes being implemented,” she said.