CBE to get $110 million in new grant money as part of Budget 2023

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Public faculties will stand up to $110 million in new grant cash to assist enrollment development and classroom complexity as a part of an in depth Funds 2023 funding guide launched Thursday by Alberta Training.

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The funding is a part of practically $200 million in grants throughout Alberta, offering for as much as 3,000 new training staff, and a 5 to 10 per cent enhance for tuition grants, specialised studying assist, faculty upkeep and vitamin applications.

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CBE chair Laura Hack mentioned the cash was badly wanted in a 12 months when enrollment development was unprecedented, as college students who had chosen different studying choices through the pandemic flocked again and international battle in locations like Ukraine noticed massive numbers of latest refugee college students. .

“This 12 months we welcomed greater than 5,800 college students into our 251 faculties – sufficient to fill 10 elementary faculties – with extra arriving day-after-day, and subsequent 12 months we anticipate one other important enhance,” Hack mentioned.

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“This funding means we will rent extra academics, academic assistants and different employees wanted to assist the scholars we’ve and anticipate to have over the following few years.”

Hack declined to say what number of academics and assist employees can be employed with the extra funding, saying the CBE would wish time to determine how the cash can be spent.

Funding will assist amid unprecedented development in enrolments: training minister

The detailed funding comes practically two weeks after the UCP authorities introduced a 5.2 p.c enhance to Ok-12 training funding, to $8.8 billion for 2023-24 and dedicated to $9.2 billion by 2025-26 .

Training Minister Adriana LaGrange mentioned the funding will assist faculty boards rent new academics, assist employees and bus drivers to deal with unprecedented development in enrollment.

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And receiving the funding guide for the 2023-24 faculty 12 months as early as March will enable faculty boards to plan extra simply after the federal government offered that info in September in earlier years, she added.

“Individuals flock to our fantastic province of Alberta they usually convey their households. And which means faculties in Alberta proceed to welcome increasingly more college students, so we’re boosting training funding to accommodate pupil development,” LaGrange mentioned Thursday at John G. Diefenbaker Excessive College in Calgary.

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“Over the following three years, we’re growing funding by $820 million particularly to deal with and assist enrollment development. We need to assist faculty authorities handle rising class sizes by serving to them rent extra employees, together with academics and classroom assist employees.”

Extra awards introduced

LaGrange mentioned extra cash for varsity boards which have seen unusually massive development in city facilities, together with CBE, may also be out there by way of the Supplemental Enrollment Development Grant, like final 12 months.

Different new grants introduced Thursday embody $2 million for Kindergarten Homeschooling, a brand new pilot program to assist assist households with assets and faculty assist in the event that they select to homeschool their youngster.

The province additionally introduced $140 million in Funds 2023 to fund the brand new instructor wage settlement ratified final June, which features a 5 p.c wage enhance in 2021-22, a 1.25 p.c enhance in 2022-23 and two p.c in 2023-24.

eferguson@postmedia.com