Thursday, February 11, 2010

School boards, parents relieved that education spending will rise

Alberta's ongoing effort to shrink class sizes will be reshaped to focus on elementary-aged children and high school career and technology classes as of September.

Alberta Education announced it will continue to give school districts across the province $222 million to target smaller class sizes in the 2010-11 budget, the same as this year. That money will be distributed differently than in previous years, when all grades were eligible for funding.

"All the studies indicate that class size makes a difference; it's in the kindergarten to Grade 3 time frame that makes the most difference and makes a significant difference in students," Education Minister Dave Hancock said at the legislature Tuesday.

It is one of the key changes in the $6.1-billion education budget, which the government said it will increase by $43 million over the previous year to reflect the growing number of students entering Alberta schools, particularly the increasing number of children in need of English as a second language programs and young students with disabilities.

Spending on kindergarten to Grade 12 education continues to be the provincial government's second largest expense, behind health care.

Nearly 89 per cent of that money -- $5.4 billion -- will go directly to school boards.

Source : http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/School+boards+parents+relieved+that+education+spending+will+rise/2544623/story.html

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