A Highwood candidate with “skin in the game” is aware of the need for new schools in Okotoks.
“I just have to make sure there is heightened awareness that we are a quickly growing region that requires schools to educate the children that are coming in,” said PC candidate Carrie Fischer who has children attending Okotoks schools. “We need to make sure that we have an MLA that has skin in the game, so to speak, children in the system, and is well aware how full our schools in the area are.”
The Progressive Conservative’s March budget announced a one-per-cent increase for education, but capped the per-student fees based on 2014-15 enrolment numbers — meaning school boards won’t get extra funds for more students. As well, the boards have been restricted on how they can use their reserves.
Foothills School Division has sent a letter to Education Minister Gordon Dirks about its concerns over the constraints it will face due to freezing the reserves.
Fischer said there are ways for school boards to make ends meet.
“The reality is the minister has asked school boards to find three per cent of savings in their (non-teaching) budget,” Fischer said. “He has specifically told school boards they are not to touch teaching environments…
“The reality is when we are facing a situation where everyone is asked to spend more carefully, this is a modest cut to non-teaching positions.”
Fischer said if a proposed high school proceeds near Aldersyde she will work with municipalities to get it done.
“As an MLA, I don’t have the ability to tell either municipality where the school needs to be,” Fischer said. “I just need to make sure the school happens.”
Alberta Party candidate Joel Windsor also has skin in the game — he is a teacher at Notre Dame Collegiate.
“The education system is in many ways very good — we have one of the strongest teaching professions in Canada if not the world,” Windsor said.
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“The concern is what is coming down the pipe. We will have 12,000 kids coming into the system, with no plans for teachers to support those students.”
He said the issue of new schools is apparent in Okotoks.
“We already have schools beyond or approaching capacity,” said Windsor. “This is a significant concern for us.”
He disagrees on the cap for funding, stating education is an investment in the future.
“One of things we are talking of setting up is a capital budget for each board so they can actually manage their own maintenance,” Windsor said. “We elect trustees to be stewards of our local education systems. We want to give them the opportunity to do-so on a more hands-on basis.”
He said it is key for the future that funding not to be so dependent on the price of oil.
“We do say we want to provide stable, consistent and adequate funding and end mandatory school fees,” Windsor said. “We want to move to alternate avenues of revenue. A more progressive tax system than what we see now.”
He said efficiencies could also be found in spending.
Windsor said the key to getting schools in Okotoks is to get the pipeline in place.
“Without the water, we can’t get the land, without the land we can’t get the schools,” he said.
Wildrose candidate Wayne Anderson said school divisions need access their reserves.
“They have been prudent enough to put that money aside,” Anderson said on Sunday.
“In the Foothills — busing, other expenses, now all those costs can’t be taken from reserves. They have to go back to the parents or ask the government how to use their own reserves… To freeze your reserve fund is freezing your bank account.”
Anderson said he disagrees with the enrolment cap funding, stating the Wildrose would provide a predictable sustainable funding model.
He said the Wildrose plans to put aside $2-billion over four years to build schools.
NDP candidate Leslie Mahoney is facing cuts to education as a student at the University of Lethbridge.
“To see the cuts at university — the actual programs not just the capital cuts — is really concerning to me,” Mahoney said.
She added proposals for market modifiers and getting rid of tuition caps will make post-secondary education for students who may not have the financial wherewithal difficult. Mahoney said the cuts for education in the PC budget for K-12 is unacceptable.
“We have something in the order of 12,000 students coming in, and there are no new teachers,” she said.
Mahoney said raising corporate tax — to multinationals, not small business in communities — by just one per cent would raise nearly a $1-billion. She said Alberta could also raise its royalty rates.
Martin Blake, Green Party candidate, said the biggest concern is the lack of schools in Okotoks.
He would also like to work with the NDP in its initiative to help students transition from post-secondary to job positions, possibly offering incentive to employers to hire new graduates.
Social Credit Jeremy Fraser said he has concerns about parents being allowed choice for their children in regards to education.
“The Alberta Social Credit Party has always stood for parental choice in education,” Fraser said.
He is concerned about possible cuts to home-schooling.
Fraser said he would like to have schools which have sex education programs with an emphasis on the consequences of an unplanned pregnancy and abortion.
The candidates for the Highwood riding in the upcoming May 5 provincial election are, clockwise from top left: Wayne Anderson, Wildrose; Martin Blake, Greens; Carrie Fischer, PCs; Jeremy Fraser, Social Credit; Joel Windsor, Alberta Party and Leslie Mahoney, NDP.
