by Morinville News Staff
Minister David Eggen visited with Bachelor of Education students at the University of Alberta, committing to improve and protect education in the 2017 Budget.
Eggen has been visiting Alberta’s post-secondary institutions, engaging with future teachers about their prospective careers, as well as the ongoing review of curriculum and the impact of stable, predictable funding will have in Alberta’s classrooms.
“Our government continues to fund for enrolment growth for K-12 education across the province. We have invested an additional $381 million in funding to cover enrolment since May 2015,” Eggen said in a media release Monday. “We are protecting and improving the things that make a difference in the lives of Albertans, including education, and we will continue to work to make life better.”
Joanna Gill, Class of 2017 Bachelor of Education student at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Education said Eggen’s message was reassuring, particularly that government is meeting the needs of Alberta’s growing population when it comes to K-12 education.
“It tells me there will be spaces for students, reasonable class sizes and jobs for graduating teachers,” she said.
In the last two provincial budgets, 1,100 new teachers were hired, and schools retained more than 800 jobs. Schools across the province, particularly in metro areas, saw student increases over the same two years.
