Students get less, while families pay more under UCP

According to LaGrange’s budget documents, she intends to collect about $320 million more in education property taxes by 2022, while spending about $330 million less on support for the K-12 school system. (File Photo: Adriana LaGrange/Facebook)

EDMONTON — UCP Education Minister Adriana LaGrange is breaking her promise to Alberta families with a budget that cuts per-student funding while pulling more money out of parents’ pockets.

“Minister LaGrange told Albertans she would fund enrolment as our student population grows. Now we know that was a lie,” said Sarah Hoffman, Official Opposition Critic for Education and MLA for Edmonton-Glenora. “This UCP government is raising school fees, collecting more income taxes and more property taxes while class sizes get bigger, bus times get longer, and kids with complex needs lose their supports.”

According to LaGrange’s budget documents, she intends to collect about $320 million more in education property taxes by 2022, while spending about $330 million less on support for the K-12 school system. This money will go towards the $4.7 billion corporate handout described on page 144 of the Budget 2019 Fiscal Plan.

“We’ve heard lots of promises that we’ll get more money because the student population is increasing, but with this budget freeze, we get a cut in Education,” said Timothy Lu, a Grade 11 student attending Old Strathcona High School. “For students and teachers, we have to do more with less, and that puts a strain on us that doesn’t have to be there. We get stressed about things other than our jobs, which are learning and teaching, respectively.”

“The impact that the budget is going to have on myself and other front line workers is the possibility of facing layoffs, or loss of hours,” said Lee Ann Kilam, a Educational Assistant. “At the end of the day that means there will be less supports for students, and they’re the ones who will suffer because of this budget.”

In budget debate today, the minister also revealed that school districts are free to charge a mid-year school fee increase, on top of the income tax hike, property tax increases and various other fees increases contained in Budget 2019.