Calgary schools experiencing record-high enrollment

As Alberta’s population continues to grow at a rapid pace, Calgary school boards have been feeling the pressure to keep up with record-high enrollment.

Gary Strother is the acting superintendent of the Calgary Board of Education (CBE), and he says thanks to a hefty increase in this year’s budget, they’ve been able to meet their hiring goals.

“We’re looking at continuing rising numbers, that’s for sure. And we’ve had an opportunity with the government early in the spring where they gave us an extra $130 million to help us support by getting in more staff, more teachers,” he explained.

“We’ve been doing a great job of hiring since May 1. We’ve had over 500 new teachers, and our goal was about 550. So we’re doing really, really well on that front.”

The CBE anticipates increasing full-time staffing by 774 positions this year.

WATCH: Record number of first year students at UCalgary

Record number of first year students at UCalgary

Sunday at the University of Calgary saw students move into on-campus residence. Danina Falkenberg brings us a look into the day from excited students who got into the waitlisted accommodations.

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A key source for filling new positions within the board is the substitute teacher roster, which will continue to grow throughout the school year.

The CBE’s substitute roster has grown by 200 teachers since the last school year, bringing the division up to 2,100 substitute teachers.

“We are seeing record enrollments for sure. But at this point, we think we’ve got it covered in terms of schools and opportunities and other schools to move around,” Strother said.

“Any student that was in a school last year is getting to stay in their school for sure. And we’re just moving kids around to make it work for everybody. But the majority of our students are in their home schools, which is great over 90 per cent of our kids.”

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The Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) is also projecting higher-than-normal enrollments this year at approximately 60,500 students.

In a statement to CityNews, the district confirms it will receive $35.6 million in new funding from the Alberta government — with a portion going towards teacher salary settlement.

With the addition of $24 million in residual funding, the CCSD anticipates hiring more than 75 new teachers and over 40 education assistants.