“It’s not nearly enough,” Schilling said, pointing to a Statistics Canada report earlier this year which showed Alberta’s per-student funding is the lowest in the country.
“This is not a new phenomenon, but it is becoming more prevalent as the number of Calgary schools at or above capacity continues to grow. Calgary students deserve adequate space to learn and grow.” She added that as principals work to balance class sizes for the school year, she worries a lack of teachers will see students increasingly forced into “split classrooms.”
“If we collected and reported the data, it would give us a sense of actual numbers in schools. But we don’t have official numbers, they’re hidden. And if you don’t have the evidence that classes are growing, then it’s not a problem you have to deal with.”Alberta government says it’s working to reduce enrolment pressures
“More specifically, we are increasing spending on education by $2 billion over the next three years, which includes $820 million to hire over 3,000 more teachers and education staff.