Alberta NDP education critic Amanda Chapman says the UCP government is poor at public consultation. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

By Eli J. Ridder

Alberta NDP education critic says United Conservative government ignoring teacher shortage

Sep 27, 2024 | 8:38 PM

Alberta NDP education critic Amanda Chapman said Friday the United Conservative government’s funding for school construction projects is a positive step forward but ignores the shortage of teachers caused by the lowest spending per student in Canada.

“The announcement of building new schools is a good thing, but it’s actually not going to help our kids who are in school right now,” Chapman told CHAT News ahead of a public town hall in Medicine Hat.

“We won’t be opening any new schools for at minimum three years. It takes three to five years to get a school up and running, and that’s a long time for kids who were in classrooms now who have needs that aren’t being met.”

Chapman, who serves as MLA for Calgary-Beddington, argued that more operational funding is needed per student so that support teachers and educational assistants can be hired to address classrooms struggling to meet the needs of every child.

“Because we have that lowest per-student funding in the country, schools are left to make very difficult decisions with the limited budgets they have,” she said.

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Chapman criticized Premier Danielle Smith’s approach to public dialogue as it creates policies.

“Consultation is actually a piece where the UCP has proven that they’re not very good,” Chapman said in an interview.

She pointed to the government’s proposed municipal governance, provincial pension and Alberta police force initiatives as examples where an idea was proposed without enough public feedback that resulted in backtracking.

After speaking to the issue of funding per student and the increasingly complex needs of the classroom, Chapman opened up the town hall to questions from the some 40 residents who attended.

A teacher in the audience raised concerns with the qualifications of the government-funded educational coaches in schools while another criticized the support of private schools by the Alberta government.

In her answers to the many progressives gathered in the Elks Club, Chapman consistently returned what she sees as a lacklustre approach by the United Conservatives.

“I don’t think that the government is taking education seriously,” Chapman said.

In comparison, an NDP administration would make “evidence-based decisions” and prioritize wide-spread consultation.

The Calgary MLA was the latest New Democrat to visit Medicine Hat this year to hold a town hall on a particular topic.

The Opposition’s health critic Dr. Luanne Metz said the Alberta health care system was moving backward at an event in August.

Then-NDP leadership candidate Naheed Nenshi — now the party leader — urged grassroots organizing in June.

Chapman was hopeful the conservative stronghold ridings of Brooks-Medicine Hat and Cypress-Medicine Hat would go orange next election.

“Medicine Hat 2027, that’s my prediction,” Chapman said.