By Brendan Miller

Education budget supports hiring of 3,000 staff

Feb 28, 2023 | 3:28 PM

Alberta experienced one of its largest-ever population increases in 2022 and that resulted in more students in Alberta schools.

The government is investing $8.8 billion for education operating expenses in the 2023-24 budget.

Of that, $126 million will support the hiring of 3,000 education staff that includes teachers, educational assistants and school support staff over the next three years.

That additional staff should reduce classroom sizes and provide more staff training opportunities.

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This year’s budget will allow the province to add 20,000 new or modernized student spaces.

Almost $1.5 billion will go to support the province’s most vulnerable students with specialized learning needs.

An investment of $46 million will support mental health pilot projects over the next two years.

The budget will boost transportation funding resulting in about 80,000 additional students becoming eligible for provincial funding support.

Parents of 47,000 students who are currently paying a fee to use bus services will save more than $20 million in transportation costs.

The budget provides $5.6 billion in operating expenses for advanced education.

Tuition fees for domestic post-secondary students will be capped at 2% annually effective for the 2024-25 school year.

Students who are receiving financial assistance will be receiving an extension of the student loan grace period from six-months to one-year.

The government says a key priority is to address the shortage of physicians and nurses and will increase the number of seats available for medical degrees by 120 in 2025-26.

Additionally, $30 million will go towards targeting health-care enrolment to add 1,800 new seats for health-care aides over the next three years.

Another $46 million will go towards targeting internationally educated nurses over the next three years.