SOS Response to CBE 2019 Budget Impact

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

SOS RESPONSE TO CBE 2019 BUDGET IMPACT

​Support Our Students Alberta

It comes as no surprise to SOS Alberta that the CBE released its revised economic outlook for the 2019/2020 school year as a significant shortfall, resulting from the 2019 provincial budget released October 24, 2019.

CBE’s announcement of a $48 Million dollar shortfall is an echo of many other school boards like Edmonton Public and Rockyview School Division who have also come forward with shortfalls of $34 Million and $10 Million dollars respectively.  This brings the total shortfall of school boards that have reported to $116 Million dollars (note this total only accounts for 7 of 61 boards).

It is increasingly obvious that this government is actively working against public education. There is a consistent and deliberate effort to underfund and undermine school boards across the province as evidenced by the repeated emphasis of the Minister regarding school board autonomy. This is simply a way to deflect from the responsibility this government has to adequately fund public education across Alberta. 

This chronic underfunding means schools will rely even more so on fundraising to fill funding gaps. This places an undue burden on families already struggling economically.
It also means schools that do not have parent councils or parent associations will not have the ability to fundraise at all.  

It also means school boards will fallback on school fees as another way to fill funding gaps. Again, this is another deliberate move to commodify education, and creates an economic barrier for many families. 

This is how inequity widens, this is how we exacerbate have and have-not schools, have and have-not students. 

To this end, SOS Alberta has created a VERY easy, user friendly way for Albertans to have their voices heard.

Today we launch a letter writing campaign that Albertans can use to email Premier Jason Kenney, the Minister of Education Adriana LaGrange and their own MLA to express their disappointment with this budget. 

https://www.supportourstudents.ca/write-premier-kenney.html#/ 

Funding for public education must be a priority, and the responsibility for doing so lies squarely on the shoulders of our provincial government, not on the backs of parents or students. 

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions or concerns.

​###