To the Editor,
Last week the editorial "Balancing the books is good in the long run" made the argument that our provincial UCP Government is doing a solid job running our province and that the budget surplus is to be celebrated.
We Albertans have the great fortune of having roughly 25% of our provincial budget come from oil and gas royalties. What should we do with this money? Should we look to the future and perhaps invest in our children?
For those not already aware, Alberta is now LAST PLACE for education funding per student in Canada. The number of students per class is now so high that the province simply decided to stop gathering classroom size data (gotta respect the elegance of this solution). Special needs children are also included in these classrooms as part of "inclusive education", but often have no additional assistance given (great way to save money). Teachers are so stressed, many are leaving the profession and not looking back, turning the teacher shortage into a crisis. Rocky View School District's requests to the province for additional support are routinely declined.
But don't worry folks - we've got a $4.3B budget surplus! I'm sure our children will be fine. Whatever learnings they miss in their chaotic classrooms, I'm sure they'll get from TikTok.
Travis Smith,
Cochrane, AB
