The Alberta government said Budget 2024 will help students by building and modernizing schools, adding learning supports for students and funding post-secondary programs to build a skilled workforce. “The Alberta Advantage is back and booming and people from across Canada and around the world are once again flocking to our incredible province,” said Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides in a Thursday press release. “This of course puts added pressures on our schools and our government is ready to help.” Over the next three years, the Alberta government said it will spend $1.9 billion on the planning, design and construction of new and modernized school projects across the province. This includes $681 million in new funding for 43 priority projects that will create 35,000 new or modernized student spaces. Additionally, it said $842 million in new operating funding over the next three years will further support enrolment growth, bringing additional enrolment-based funding to more than $1.2 billion over the next three years to enable schools to hire more than 3,100 education staff.More than $1.5 billion will go towards operating expense funding for educational learning supports for vulnerable students, children with disabilities and other students requiring additional help. Over the next three years, the Alberta government said $26 million in additional funding will go towards Program Unit Funding (PUF). It added PUF will total $209 million in the 2024/2025 fiscal year. To address the most urgent needs for additional student spaces across Alberta, $103 million in capital funding over three years will go towards increasing modular classroom spaces. Effective 2025/2026, $55 million in capital funding will be spent on the University of Calgary’s multidisciplinary hub to add 1,000 spaces in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs. Another $63 million in capital funding over the next three years will go towards Olds College to renovate and expand student spaces in the WJ Elliott Building. The Alberta government said $43 million in capital funding over the next three years will be spent on the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s trades and technology learning facility. Over at Red Deer Polytechnic, it said $13 million in capital funding over the next three years will go towards creating a new space to help businesses conduct applied research. Alberta Advanced Education Minister Rajan Sawhney said demand for skilled trades workers and STEM graduates “is projected to increase as our economy continues to grow and diversify.” “That’s why Alberta’s government is making targeted investments in post-secondary institutions to create more opportunities for students in high demand fields of study,” said Sawhney. The Alberta government said in November it would be allocating $30 million to school boards to respond to more students coming into the education system. READ MORE: Alberta government to spend $30 million to address increased student enrolment“Alberta’s government is committed to keeping our education system world class, and this investment will help us achieve that goal,” said Nicolaides. “I know this additional funding will help our school divisions in many ways.”
