Classrooms sizes and spending per student remain hot topics in Alberta teacher strike

Teachers' push against the province for more funding comes as a recent study shows Alberta spent the lowest per student across Canada.

As the potential for a teacher strike or lockout in Alberta continues, ballooning class sizes and inadequate funding for families and teachers are becoming key issues.

A recent study from the Fraser Institute suggests Alberta ranks last in K-12 spending per student out of all Canadian provinces.

The study, released Aug. 28, looked at the 2022-23 school year, based on data provided by each jurisdiction.

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It found Alberta spent $13,494 per student, which was the lowest in the country.

The second lowest spender, Newfoundland and Labrador, spent almost $700 more per student than Alberta.

“We have been the least funded in terms of the amount of money that school boards have to spend on students for many, many years – almost a decade,” said Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) president Jason Schilling.

The Fraser Institute study shows Alberta went from having the fifth-highest spending per student in 2012-13, to the lowest a decade later.

It indicates Alberta saw a 17.5 per cent decrease in inflation-adjusted per-student spending from the 2013-14 school year to the 2022-23 school year.

“That’s chronic underfunding,” said Schilling. “When we’ve seen such high enrollment, growth is leading us to the crisis in education.”

The ATA and the province are still far from making a deal, and classroom sizes are a major sticking point.

The latest offer included wage increases of 12 per cent over four years and a promise to hire 3,000 teachers over three years.

“We have an understanding that most of our classes are mid-30s to 40 (students), and that seems to be the average.” Schilling said. “This was a major issue identified by teachers throughout the entire bargaining process.”

The ATA is calling on the province to begin collecting class size data, which it stopped doing in 2019.

Parent Victoria Tengbeh has two children attending Calgary Board of Education (CBE) schools. She says she shares the concerns Alberta teachers have about class sizes.

“I feel like the kids (are) not listening, maybe. They are watching their friends and if there’s too many (in the) class, the kids keep playing around, they are not listening in the class.”

Kyle Johnson’s son is in Grade 3 in a split class at a CBE school.

“Without a doubt they’re bigger than when I was a kid and I went to school in Calgary,” he said. “So that’s definitely a concern.”

The province says the deal on the table addresses classroom sizes by hiring 3,000 new teachers over the next three years and wage increases of 12 per cent over four years.

“What you see on the table is a proactive deal that respects teachers and respects class sizes and all the challenges we’re facing as a province,” said Finance Minister Nate Horner.

The UCP government recently announced a larger-than-expected $6.5-billion deficit.

The ATA won’t release its salary ask, saying it won’t negotiate in public.

The last possible day teachers could go on strike would be Oct. 7, and they would have to give 72 hours’ notice.