Alberta Education: Fall Budget Update

In a news release today, Alberta Education shared the Fall Update to the 2011/2012 Budget that offers a provincial overview of how school jurisdictions spent their portion of the $107M in additional funding from the province. Education Minister, Thomas Lukaszuk, observed that, '“Like any investment, Albertans want to be assured the dollars went to the right place and improved the overall learning experience of students. They can be confident that this is the case.”'

The update indicates that approximately 623 teachers and 397 support staff were hired throughout the province for a total of nearly $88M. Another $19M was spent on technology, equipment/materials and teacher professional development.

In a report submitted by the Calgary Board of Education that forms part of this update, the entire $19.2M of additional funding went out to schools and was spent on staff. Schools hired 159.45 FTE teachers and 64.48 FTE support staff.

Of the $19.2M of funding, $4.2M was directed to the Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) by Alberta Education. The CBE used this money to hire 44.97 FTE positions to support Personalized Learning school-based projects.

The remaining $15M was used to hire 179.16 FTEs at the school level. Schools hired staff to support class size, English Language Learners, Special Education students, enhancement of supports for all learners, second language learning, enrolment growth (decline), Knowledge and Employability courses and Career and Technology Studies. A chart outlining the number of schools that supported these categories is included in the report.