CALGARY — Alberta announced it will be spending $143 million on severe classroom complexity issues— only the start, claiming there is more spending to come in the 2026 budget, announced at the end of February.
Classroom complexity will be addressed in the form of complexity teams, composed of one teacher and two EAs, providing in-class support for teachers.
Of the $143 million, "$129 million will go to schools that are prioritized highest in the province for complexity factors; $14 million will go to schools with unique complexity challenges that require," stated the press release.
different or additional strategies to support students.
They will support students' needs, whether they be academic, behavioral, social, or emotional.
At a press conference Thursday, government officials announced they have collected data from 1,549 schools and 89,000 classrooms throughout Alberta.
This data was self-reported by administrators and teachers — in an attempt to target the aid to classrooms with the most need.
"The funding is within the budget 25/26 fiscal target," stated one official.
"That money is being provided to school divisions. They do have the ability to obviously spend in a 25/26 school year. However, they can also carry for that money should they need to into the 26/27 school year to implement this investment effectively."
"There'll be further announcements and investments for the school system related to classroom complexity in Budget '26, in March [February 26]," added the official.
How will this money be given to schools, and which schools are getting the funds?
The bulk of complexity resources will be given to the Calgary and Edmonton Public School boards.
In total, 476 complexity teams will be set up in Alberta schools, all being for grades K-6 — prioritizing grades K-3.
"Early intervention and foundational stability are the primary benefits of placing complexity teams in K6 schools. Research indicates that addressing student needs during the formative K-6 years is more," stated the government's news release.
effective and less costly than attempting to remediate behavioral or academic gaps in secondary
school.
The data also ranked levels of complexity in each classroom as low, moderate, or high — the resources given to the selected schools and their classrooms are for those with high complexity levels.
This means a classroom must have at least seven complexity issues.
The data revealed only 1% of classes had more than 40 students, with all Alberta school classrooms averaging 25 students.
Half of these classes with 40 or more students were gym or fine arts classes.
"The key takeaway from this data is that classified alone is not the best predictor of pressure," claimed a government official.
Smith previously stated last week on the issue, "I think as we've gotten the feedback from our expert panel, as we have our cabinet committee, it's very clear to us that just doing blanket funding on this issue is not going to solve it," said Smith during her Your Province. Your Premier. radio show.
"We've got to take a more targeted approach."
This comes after a long-fought battle between the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) and the Alberta government, including the ATA's almost month-long strike in October.
Which resulted in the government hiring 3,000 more teachers, and 1,500 additional EAs — with the promise of addressing classroom complexity.
One official also stated Thursday the funding will be sent out in the next week or so, employing "those resources, the educational assistance, as soon as possible."
Though they warned, because of the timing in the school year, some schools may not be fully staffed until the 2026-2027 school year.
