Foothills School Division will see a half-million-dollar funding cut next year, the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) says.
Referencing data posted on the Alberta government website that outlines projected provincial education funding, the ATA said Foothills is one of 13 school boards that will see cuts for the 2024/25 school year.
The data shows FSD will see a projected year-over-year funding decrease of $521,000 or 0.6 per cent.
The Government of Alberta said funding is based on three-year weighted average enrollment numbers.
Between the 2022/23 and the 2023/24 school years, enrollment within the Foothills School Division dropped by 90 students from 8,154 to 8,064, the division said last year.
Christ the Redeemer Catholic Separate School Division, with schools in the Okotoks area, will see $1.2 million in additional funding, the data shows.
The way education funding is allocated for K-12 education in Alberta changed in 2020.
ATA President Jason Shilling said the weighted moving average "has proven disastrous for education funding."
“When adjusted for inflation, per-pupil education spending will be down 13 per cent province-wide, compared to 2019,” Shilling said.
He said funding cuts are not acceptable.
“There is no excuse in our growing, wealthy province to have funding cuts for public education,” Schilling said. “We now have the lowest per-pupil spending on education in all of Canada.”
He called on the Alberta government to immediately announce increased funding for the start of the next school year.
Foothills School Division operates schools in Okotoks, High River, Diamond Valley and the surrounding area.
