Division exaggerates budget reduction, fires back MLA Peter Guthrie

Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie believes Rocky View Schools should not have any difficulty adjusting to a decrease in provincial government funding.

If they can't, he says the government will be willing to help.

Guthrie says shifts in how funding is awarded saw the school division receive $2.1 million less, not the $10 million decrease claimed by school officials.

He is confident they can make up the shortfall by becoming more efficient. If not, he says they have almost $15 million in reserves to draw upon.

"Those reserves are to be used for times of austerity and that’s where we are right now," says Guthrie. "There’s no point of having 10s of millions of dollars sitting there in reserve."

He says all but seven school divisions in the province have built up substantial reserves by overbudgeting for many years.

Guthrie says school divisions will have to start using their money wisely, something that has become commonplace in the business community.

"We’ve had five years of hard economic times, including when I was in business. Businesses have had to go through all of their spending to make sure they are getting the best deal they possibly can."

He believes the province needs to closely examine how education dollars are spent.

He points to how education spending has increased by 80 per cent in the last 15 years, yet in the same period the inflation rate has climbed 33 per cent and classroom sizes have grown 25 per cent.

"We are overfunding by more than 3-1 over classroom growth and yet our results are declining and we’re not having any impact on classroom sizes," says Guthrie. "There needs to be a good hard look at how we are spending our money."

A new funding model is in the works for the Education ministry and is expected to be ready for the province's spring budget.

"I know the Education Dept is working on a new funding model that is going to provide a more predictable long-term approach to funding for school boards so they can plan and put together a framework that will be a lot more effective in their planning, and in better utilizing public funds."

Guthrie says more new schools will be built by the Kenney government.

"We are growing. There’s absolutely no question. But there’s no reason to fear. We will be absolutely fully funding every child that comes into the school system."

RVS is currently examining ways to meet a reduction in funding. Actions need to be reported to the Alberta Government by the end of the month.

RVS board chair Fiona Gilbert called the provincial disheartening for the school division. While it did provide additional monies for enrolment growth as promised, other cuts have taken even more money from the school division's budget.

"Having already cut $2.7 million in classroom improvement funding from the budget last spring, our board will now need to find a significant amount of money, mid-year, to address grant changes made by the government," says Gilbert.

Larry Paul, associate superintendent of business and operations, previously stated people can expect service levels to decrease and class sizes impacted because of the reduction in funding.