Media Releases

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Budget will impact students

Proposed budget cuts spending, staff

At a media conference this morning, Board Chair Dave Colburn shared details of the District's proposed budget for the 2011-2012 school year.

"Our Board is quite concerned about the negative impact the budget will have - the reality is you can't cut over 200 teaching positions without impacting students," said Colburn.

Administration is recommending reductions in spending for both schools and central departments. If the Board approves these recommendations:

• Approximately 229 teaching positions and 115 non-teaching positions would be eliminated.
• There would be significant cuts to school spending and even deeper cuts to central departments.
• Central spending would be reduced more than five times as much as school spending.

"Political leaders and the community need to understand the funding pressures we face and realize that in order to ensure a bright, prosperous future for this province, education must be a top priority," said Colburn.

The information shared at the media conference relates to a draft budget. In June, the Board plans to vote on a final budget, which will be submitted to Alberta Education.

Further information, contact:

Cheryl Oxford, Managing Director
Communications
780-429-8282 (new media line)