Funding formula change will have marginal impact, Edmonton's public school board says

Edmonton Public School Board has been advocating for a change in the school funding formula for years, but now that  the province has moved away from the weighted moving average system, the increase in funding wasn't as much as the division had hoped. 

In a report presented at Wednesday's school board meeting, trustees heard that while the division will receive $50.5 million more overall for next school year, most new funds are driven by enrolment growth, rather than the new formula. 

This is because the province also eliminated the Supplemental Enrolment Growth Grant, which divisions like Edmonton Public Schools were using to help keep pace with growth. 

The difference between what the division would have received under the previous formula with the supplement grant, and the current circumstance amounts to $1.1 million, or 0.1 per cent.

"We're pretty much status quo because we're just maintaining our current staffing at our current staffing rates," Todd Burnstad, the division's chief financial officer said.

In the new adjusted enrolment method, 70 per cent of funding is based on anticipated enrolment, with the remainder based on current student numbers.

The report said the change decreases the number of unfunded students in Edmonton Public Schools from 4,002 to 1,301.

Grants for classroom complexity increased by 20 per cent.

However, the division was notified in February that it would no longer be eligible for Jordan's principle funding, a program intended to support improved services for First Nations children.

Changes to bus funding

One line item that saw a decrease in the budget is transportation, which is 11.3 per cent lower than last year. 

Darrel Roberston, superintendent of Edmonton Public Schools, described it as a mistake.

"We are also seeing, however, in next year's budget — because of what's being described as a calculation error on the part of Alberta Education — a pretty significant decrease in transportation funding for metro divisions," Robertson said. 

But Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said in a statement to CBC that's not true.

"The changes referenced by Edmonton Public School Board regarding transportation funding are not a miscalculation," the statement read.

Alberta Education previously gave funding for every student eligible to take the bus. Now, funding will only be given for the actual number of students riding.

Nicolaides said the province has increased funding for bus transportation by $167 million, or 52.5 per cent, since 2022.

It comes as the province also changed the eligibility for bus subsidies. The province will only help pay for riders living more than 1.6 kilometres away — previously it was one kilometre.

But there will be over $15 million available in transition funding to help parents and school boards make the transition next school year, the statement said. 

Robertson said the division has work to do to figure out what these changes mean alongside increasing costs of transportation and growing ridership. He said there may be a future board discussion about increasing bus fees.

"What we do know is that we would be planning on trying to move forward to honour this year's distance requirements and make an application for the offsetting funds."