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By Alex McCuaig

School funding cuts

Criticism mounts against government’s move to cut school funding

Mar 30, 2020 | 2:44 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Substitute teachers, educational aides and school support staff in the province have been left reeling following the announcement of funding cuts by the education minister on the weekend.

Details of what this announcement will mean are scarce outside of a press statement released Saturday afternoon reversing previous commitments from Education Minister Adriana LaGrange two weeks ago.

“My department and I will work with school authorities throughout this process and school authorities will receive their full allotment of funding for the 2019-2020 school year,” LaGrange said during a March 15 announcement that also saw schools ordered shuttered indefinitely.

An estimated 20,000 support staff and 6,000 substitute teachers layoffs are expected from Saturday’s announcement according to the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA), with more than $120 million expected to be saved and moved toward funding the provincial COVID-19 response.

ATA president Jason Schilling says the March 15 pronouncement by Minister LaGrange was a relief for those in the education system but, “what we got on Saturday was a complete 180 of that announcement.

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“We’re in the middle of a pandemic. People are stressed right now and this was one thing the government could have done and kept in place and kept people employed during this time.”

Schilling highlighted that as teachers migrate to online learning programs for students, there won’t be substitutes available if that teacher gets sick.

During a noon-hour press conference, NDP education critic Sarah Hoffman says the provincial government will be cutting the base operating grant for school boards by 14 per cent for the final two months of the school year.

She lambasted the move, calling it a, “cold and heartless decision,” which threatens students’ supports while adding more people to the unemployment line.

“Jason Kenney has asked employers to stand behind workers during this difficult time but he isn’t doing it himself,” said Hoffman.