St. Albert and Sturgeon County schools will get about $7 million from the federal government this school year to help them cover the costs of COVID-19.
Alberta Education Minister Adriana LaGrange spoke Sept. 2 on how the province would distribute $263 million in federal funds to help schools reopen safely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The federal government announced Aug. 26 that it would send some $2 billion to the provinces and territories to help schools cover costs related to the pandemic. The cash was allocated based on the number of youths aged 4 to 18 in each region. Alberta was set to get $263 million.
LaGrange said $250 million of that would be sent to schools on a per-student basis (roughly $350 per student) to be used for pandemic-related costs such as staffing, protective gear, refitting classrooms, special needs students, or online learning.
Another $12 million would go to districts that had seen surges enrolment due to demand for online or distance learning programs. Colin Aitchison, press secretary for the minister of education, said in an email that this cash would roll out once boards report their enrolment numbers on Sept. 30.
Some $7 million of this federal money is set to reach the St. Albert Public, Sturgeon Public, and Greater St. Albert Catholic school boards, a table from Alberta Education suggests: roughly $3.1 million for St. Albert Public, $2 million for St. Albert Catholic, and $1.8 million for Sturgeon Public.
Another $21,000 would go to the independent Father’s House Christian Fellowship school near Morinville. Some portion of the Greater North Central Francophone board’s $1.4-million share would also come to this region.
The federal government said that it would distribute these dollars in two chunks: one this fall and one early next year. LaGrange said she would send the money out as soon as it arrives.
Cash helps, say boards
St. Albert school officials said this cash should help offset the debts they’ve incurred due to the pandemic.
Superintendent Krimsen Sumners said St. Albert Public Schools had racked up about $4.8 million in added costs due to COVID-19, much of which was related to online education.
“We’re grateful for the funding, for sure,” she said.
The public board had to hire or reallocate about 26 teachers to run online courses this fall, which, when combined with increased enrolment, led to bigger in-person classes and less physical space between students, Sumners said. Some of this federal cash would help hire teachers to shrink the biggest classes, some of which have 36 students.
Other pandemic-related costs include $150,000 for cleaning supplies and protective gear and $500,000 for more janitors, Sumners said. Substitute teacher costs are projected to soar by $1.5 million, as provincial guidelines require teachers to stay home if they showed any symptoms of COVID-19.
"Every time somebody gets the sniffles, we need them to not be at work," Sumners said, who noted that it currently takes up to four days for a teacher to get the results of a COVID-19 test.
The cash would not be enough for the board to cap classes at 15 students as some groups have demanded, Sumners said.
“We don’t have the space to do it and we don’t have the money to purchase space.”
Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools is in a similar situation, with superintendent Clint Moroziuk pegging online learning costs at about $1 million. They have also bought a lot of protective gear and cleaning supplies, and expect to spend $200,000 on those items by the year’s end.
Moroziuk said he wasn’t sure if the federal cash would be enough to cover these costs, as the board has yet to tally up its finances for the 2019-2020 school year. He hopes the money would help schools reduce class sizes and hire more janitors.
Sturgeon Public School officials were not available to comment on this issue.
