While the NDP does like that the province is putting more money into school construction, they feel that more long term planning should have been put into it.
Amanda Chapman, the Shadow Minister for Education, says the problems around overcrowding in schools hasn’t been a new issue in Alberta.
“Parents knew it, teachers knew it, school boards knew it and students sure knew it. It did seem to be news to the Premier. She seemed surprised by the overcrowdings that we have in our schools right now, yet this is something that advocates have been bringing to the governments attention for multiple years now.”
Last week the Premier announced an increase in the amount of money spent on new school construction to $8.6 billion over the next three years.
While a lot of focus has been put on the major centres, Champman says that schools in rural areas face their own challenges, such as aging infrastructure.
“If you read through the capital plans, which perhaps only nerds like me do, there are some quite disturbing stories about the state of the schools in some of our rural areas. These are buildings that are 50-60 years old. They’re just old buildings, they need to be upgraded.”
In addition to the infrastructure work, Chapman says the government also needs a plan for getting more teachers and staff into these schools.
You can listen to the full interview below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
