More money, same problems: K-12 education still struggling

 An Nguyen, Contributor

The Alberta Government has announced changes for the 2026-2027 school year, which they call one of the largest investments in education in the province’s history, according to Minister Demetrios Nicolaides on Facebook. 

However, questions remain about how these new changes will play out, as ATA President Jason Schilling says they are just a “drop in the bucket” to what classrooms need, and educators and parents alike are still navigating Bill 25, which came into effect in May of this year. 

The reason behind the changes 

Announcing the $10.8 billion investment in operational funding back in February, Budget 2026 outlines one of the largest contributions to education the province has ever seen. 

According to the Alberta Government website, this is a seven per cent increase from last year’s education budget. The government also promised an expansion in hiring more educators and educational assistants and reduced class sizes, alongside introducing ‘complexity teams’ to schools in order to address issues that may arise in the classroom.

In an email statement, the education minister’s press secretary, Garrett Koehler, says more than 2,100 teachers and 1,000 educational assistants had been hired through funding streams such as the Class Size Reduction Grant, Complexity Team Funding and other general funding streams. 

Koehler says in the statement that by using comprehensive data collections from last year, they are continuing to analyse classroom sizes and other factors to determine where additional support is needed. 

“That being said, we are already seeing improvements in class-size reduction and classroom complexity, according to school boards,” Koehler says. 

When asked if these changes were here to stay, Koehler said he is unable to speculate but added that they have “legislated commitments” around maintaining funding for teacher hires.  

However, some aren’t entirely convinced that everything will be smooth sailing. 

“I think one of the biggest reasons why you’re seeing the government enact changes to support in classrooms and addressing class sizes is the strike from last year,”  says Schilling. 

He says these issues with class sizes and other educational concerns were what prompted the strike in the first place and believes that, while these announcements mark a great start to the future of education in Alberta, announcements alone “don’t fix a decade of erosion in underfunding in public education.” 

“Some of our colleagues that we have, especially in some urban centres, are still dealing with high school classes in the high 30s and low 40s, still, even with the announcements that the government has made,” Schilling says.

According to Schilling, the Alberta Government conducted a class size data survey last year in which the ATA had identified that hundreds, if not thousands, of classrooms across Alberta were facing overcrowding issues. 

He estimated that the education system would need 5,000 to 6,000 teachers in order to truly address issues of overcrowding within classrooms, and that the current amount of 2,100 teachers and 1,000 educational assistants hired according to the Alberta Government legislative settlement is not enough to tackle the entire shortage. 

Schilling says it’s still early to determine the impacts of these changes and more work needs to be done.

“When I first started this position, I would talk with the government about these issues. You never heard them talk about classroom complexity. Now they use that language all the time in their announcements. We’ve seen the government move on some of these issues, but we definitely need to see more, and it starts with funding.” 

The Controversial Bill 25 

The new budget is not the only upcoming impact on classrooms. 

Bill 25, An Act to Remove Politics and Ideology from Classrooms and Amend the Education Act, 2026, came into full effect for this school year after receiving royal assent on May 14, 2026. 

The bill intends to bring substantial changes to the province’s educational framework, focusing on classroom neutrality and greater government control over classrooms in regards to the display of certain types of flags and discussion regarding political and social matters in classrooms.

Advocacy groups and organisations such as the ATA have criticised the bill, citing that it creates confusion and stress in classrooms while failing to address the deeper systemic issues impacting students.

“Our first question to the government was what is the problem that you’re trying to fix? You know, issues around flags or neutrality within lessons. There’s already procedures in the education act, and there’s also procedures in the guide to education and curriculum for teachers to follow with controversial issues.” Schilling said.

He added that educators are already held to the Teaching Quality Standard, which is the province’s teaching framework, and school boards and the education commissioner have discipline processes already in place. 

In their email statement, Koehler says most educators already adhere to these guidelines when teaching, and this Bill emphasises a need to continue this practice. 

“Teachers already know how to be objective and impartial, and they know how to foster critical thinking. Bill 25 directs them to keep their personal viewpoints out of the classroom, as the majority of teachers already do.” The ministry’s statement says. 

Schilling questions why the legislation was needed at all. 

“When I hear that response, I’m like, then why do we have Bill 25? Why was a new piece of legislation developed, put into place to cause chaos and anxiety amongst the school system? When the minister himself is already admitting that teachers are already doing this. So what’s the point?” 

For parents that are concerned about the bill, Schilling encourages parents to talk to their child’s educators about issues they want to address and to build relationships with teachers.

“They spend a lot of time with your child, and everybody is lurking towards the same goal. What’s best for the student, and there’s lots of opportunities for parents and teachers to work together,” he says.

 Schilling shared that teachers want to ensure that students have the resources they need to be successful, and the reason teachers went on strike was the fact that they felt they didn’t have the necessary resources to face many of the challenges in classrooms today.

“Let’s say if we were a carpenter, and you were building a house, and they gave you a blueprint and said, ‘Build this house,’ but they don’t give you any lumber or tools or workers to build that house. That’s how teachers feel sometimes, they’re carrying the weight of an education system on their back, because they care about students, and we need the government to have some political will to do the same as well.” 

It’s still too early to determine if these promises will truly address the many concerns raised by educators over the years. But many, including the ATA President, remain optimistic that these changes mark a start towards a better future for education in Alberta.