The Alberta government has announced plans for more than three dozen school projects that it claims will provide space for more than 39,000 “new and upgraded student spaces” across the province
In an announcement on Thursday in Calgary, Minister of Education and Child Care Demetrios Nicolaides said high immigration and population growth in the province has “put some significant pressure on our education system.”
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Source: Government of Alberta
The province estimates about 90,000 additional students have enrolled in the Alberta school system over the past four years
Maps of where the projects will be located show 16 of the new schools will be in Calgary, 11 of them will be in Edmonton and 14 of them will be built in other areas of the province, outside the two major cities
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Source: Government of Alberta
The government claims that under the province’s “Schools Now” program the projects are being fast-tracked, which will accelerate construction of most of the schools by between six weeks and nine months
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Twelve of the schools are expected to be completed by the end of the current fiscal year, 19 are approved to start construction and 22 others are moving from the planning to the design stage
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Source: Government of Alberta
However, Wing Li, spokesperson for the public education advocacy group “Support Our Students,” isn’t impressed by the announcement
Li says there is an obvious need for more schools in Alberta, because schools in many areas of the province are full, forcing some to make admissions on a lottery basis
But she says fast-tracking schools from the planning to the design stage isn’t like putting “shovels in the ground.”
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Li is also worried about a shortage of teachers and other educators
“We know that there aren’t enough professionals in this province entering that teaching profession or staying in the teaching profession. So having four walls and windows is great, but who is going to be teaching face-to-face in these classrooms with this expanded school population?” Li said
“We need a concerted effort, with this acceleration of construction, at the same time a recruitment and retention program — and we’re not really seeing that part from the province.”
Li says the provincial government’s decision to invoke the notwithstanding clause to override the Alberta teachers constitutionally-protected right to strike, forcing an end to a province-wide teachers’ strike in October 2025, is not going to help attract additional teachers to the province to teach in the new schools when they’re built
“I think it’s a political attempt to look as though their policies are doing something for the people,” said Li of Thursday’s announcement. “But at the same time, it needs to be a total attitude change.”
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