2010 Provincial Budget

Finance Minister Ted Morton has delivered a provincial budget that holds the line on education spending. Although cash flows to school boards will increase by $250 million, this will be sufficient only to cover increases in student enrolment. Grants to schools provided under the various funding formulas will remain largely unchanged. Funding for class size reduction and for the Alberta Initiative for School Improvement will continue. Previously announced capital projects will be completed.

The budget does not provide funding to cover salary increases. However, in a posting on his blog www.davehancock.ca, the minister of education indicates that he expects school boards to honour collective agreements and avoid layoffs.

Says Hancock,“We know we will need all the teachers we have, and more, in coming years. It makes no sense to balance the books in the short term by taking a step that will affect our students in the long term. I, like you, would like to be able to focus on improving students' classroom experiences today and on the long-term future of the education system. I do not want what is a relatively small problem with wages to distract us from the bigger picture. After all, we are here to put children first.”

The minister indicates that once the budget bill is passed, he will be in a position to seek additional funds to cover increased salary costs. 

The budget will come as a relief to teachers. Only six months ago senior officials were speculating about budget cuts in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In response, the education partners launched Stop the Cuts, an information designed to build public awareness of the threat to public education and engage members of the public in dialogue with their MLAs. Over ten thousand Albertans’ sent emails supporting public education and polling has confirmed Albertan’s strong support for public education.

For more information about the budget, visit the provincial budget website at budget2010.alberta.ca.