With newly elected premier Alison Redford at the helm of Alberta, teachers are breathing a sigh of relief.
Redford promises to put the funding previously cut from the school budgets back in the hands of educators.
Christine Lee, director of finance for Lethbridge School District No. 51, says there was a “significant” amount of money saved last year when the board was informed that the budget for education would be dismal.
“We were told last year we were in for a very, very rough budget year for 2011 and ‘12,” says Lee. “We made adjustments last year for funding and only spent where absolutely necessary.”
With an enrolment growth of 147 students, school board trustees have been looking into staffing costs and operating grants. This will help improve the quality of education being delivered in the classroom.
With an overall increase of $3 million, trustees are planning on spending the influx on increased salaries for teachers and the hiring of support staff.
“We are planning on hiring four full-time support staff members and about 10 full-time teaching positions,” said Lee.
The new positions will help with classroom size relief, early literacy and numeracy and the English as a second language program. However, the school district will still be down about 11 full-time teaching positions, but the new money “has helped tremendously,” says Lee.
“We do not know what’s going to happen next year,” said Mich Forster, a trustee for district no. 51. “But being in this position has allowed us to prepare for the unknown.”
The board of trustees isn’t expecting to be hit with any big surprises this year. Cost-cutting and careful spending kept this school district above deficit in the past and board members are nothing less than prepared.
“We did very good this past year, better than we ever have,” said Lee in regards to the budget cuts that took place last year.
Forster added that, “We have an excellent audit committee who goes through everything in great detail. If they make a recommendation, we follow it.”