File photo outside of Lethbridge-West MLA Shannon Phillips' office. Phillips spoke alongside NDP education critic Rakhi Pancholi and Winston Churchill High School teacher Kevin McBeath about needs for the education system in the province on Friday, September 15, 2023. (File photo: LNN)

By Christian Oldale

NDP calling for improved educational support in Alberta from the UCP

Sep 15, 2023 | 2:36 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Alberta NDP is demanding better support for education in Lethbridge and across the province.

NDP Education Critic Rakhi Pancholi spoke at a conference in Medicine Hat on Thursday, September 14, 2023. At the event, she said, “There has to be a real commitment, and this is about political will from the UCP to really demonstrate that they’re going to actually invest in education the way we need to, to meet the growing numbers of students across the province.”

Pancholi added that province-wide, there are not enough schools, teachers or educational assistants to handle the thousands of new students that enter the system each year.

Lethbridge-West MLA Shannon Phillips spoke at her constituency office on Friday, September 15, 2023 about class sizes in schools across Alberta. Phillips was joined by Pancholi and Winston Churchill High School teacher Kevin McBeath.

McBeath said this year marks the largest class sizes he has ever seen in his 21 years of teaching.

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His 20-1 class has 39 students, while there are 34 in his grade nine class. McBeath said his grades 10 through 12 classes should only have 27 students, and his grade nine classes should ideally have 25. McBeath remarked that at the beginning of the school year, he did not have enough desks for his students.

“It’s important to have low class sizes, because when you have low class sizes, you can establish a relationship and connection. When I have 39 students and 75 minutes, it becomes really difficult to develop that connection,” – Winston Churchill High School teacher Kevin McBeath

Phillips added, “The government needs to take an approach of funding every child. But the core problem here is the funding formula undertaken by the UCP does not fund every child, particularly in faster growing urban areas like Lethbridge, and in particular, West Lethbridge.”

The NDP launched a survey last week regarding the size of classes, which the party said the UCP stopped reporting. The survey can be accessed at the Alberta’s Future website.

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now.

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