Calgary students back in school but some classes are overwhelmed
Posted Sep 9, 2023 11:59 am.
Last Updated Sep 9, 2023 12:04 pm.
Students in Calgary have returned to school this week — and some classrooms are already overwhelmed with students.
Since the Alberta government discontinued dedicated class size funding in 2020, school boards are no longer required to report class-size averages, giving no clear indication of the exact number of students in classes.
The Calgary Board of Education (CBE) says in a statement they have seen an unexpected increase in students registering through the Welcome Centre for newcomers, with about 37 per cent more students compared to the year before — while also seeing similar registration numbers this year, at about 70 per day.
Meanwhile, Support Our Students Alberta says teacher shortages are not the only issue they are facing.
“It’s also the schools are at capacity in terms of the buildings. We know that lots of schools getting built already are 90 per cent over capacity once they open,” Wing Li, communications director with Support Our Students Alberta, told CityNews.
“We know of high school students telling us they are sitting on the ground.”
Meanwhile, the Alberta Teachers Association president is warning of several challenges in the education system.
“Funding has been cut over the several years to education to the point that student funding in Alberta is the lowest in Canada, and this increase of students within schools is going to increase demand on class size but also demands on teacher times,” Jason Schilling explained.
According to Alberta Government guidelines, kindergarten should have 17 students per classroom, reaching 27 students for high school classrooms.
“For the optimal attention and … being able to look at feedback, for attention and instruction is 17. We are not seeing classes of 17; we are seeing classes close to 30. Like I said, I know a class of 27 kids,” Li said.
CBE says their budget for the 2023-24 school year has already increased by $130 million to nearly $1.5 billion and is focused on addressing the needs of a projected 138,000 students.
