Cuts hurt struggling students: advocate

Staffing cuts at Calgary public schools will hurt the children who need the most help, argues an advocate for the learning disabled.

The Calgary Board of Education has announced plans  to eliminate 172 positions before the new school year in September, the first phase in cuts aimed at making up a $61.7 million budget shortfall. Most of the cuts are to support staff, such as psychologists, speech therapists and teacher trainers.

Marty Hornstein, head of the Learning Disabilities Association of Alberta, said parents were already calling his organization saying their children weren't getting the help they need to succeed in school.

"We've had several calls from parents in the last couple of months, where schools are no longer providing psychological assessments for kids, parents aren't being given special resources or any indication that there was going to be any support for their kids in school," he said.

"I think the biggest shame is this always gets picked on as the first line of cuts when cuts take place. The kids that need the best resources, and need the best teachers, and need the most attention in terms of their learning ability get the least."

Parents urged to lobby politicians

Pat Cochrane, the school board chair, said the next round of cuts will be to classroom teaching positions.

"We have to go to our schools because we can't carve $61 million out of the central office supports and so our schools will be affected. We don't know the exact numbers yet because that will all fall out over time," she said.

"If I was a parent I'd be talking to my MLA and I'd be talking to the minister and saying what are you doing?"

The cuts weren't sitting well with several parents approached by CBC News on Wednesday.

"It's not even up to us. It's just all about money and when we have a multi-million dollar bridge going up downtown, but our kids are losing out on their teachers, that's unfortunate," said Shannon Johnston, who has a child at Briar Hill elementary.

Heidi Draper, a mother of two, said: "Really, you know it's the kids that are going to suffer because there are some kids who really need those services."

Minister tells boards to set priorities

The school board is questioning how the province could release $42 million  it collected property taxes to the City of Calgary for capital projects while public schools are in a $61.7-million hole. Usually the province releases those taxes to schools.

Education Minister Dave Hancock, who is meeting with Cochrane next month, said the move was part of a long standing policy of freezing the education property tax.

"We raise the same amount of money [each year] plus an amount based on the real growth in assessment, but we try very hard not to capture inflationary growth," he said.

"What likely happened in Calgary's case is that the real growth in assessment in Calgary has probably grown larger than the real growth in assessment across the province. And as a result the amount that was allocated to Calgary is spread out over a broader assessment base… That's sort of a reversal, I suppose, as what happened in the past when Calgary complained it was paying more than its share of the overall provincial assessment."

Almost all school boards have substantial surpluses that can help them weather this period, he said.

"There's no question this is a very difficult budget this year for all school boards and for the department and there are going to be some choices they have to make."

Last June, the Calgary public school boards financial plan for 2010-11 included the loss of 192 full-time teaching and 85 support positions.