Thread by @atypicalalbertn

The minister is largely correct here. The hard cap of 15 students proposed by the NDP is probably unachievable. Availability of teachers and classroom space would be an issue.

A Thread. 1/n #abed #ableg

https://twitter.com/adrianalagrange/status/1286773579913158657

But what is being proposed by the UCP, which is to provide absolutely no funds to reduce current class size levels, is not the only alternative.

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First, staffing is the largest expense in K-12; about 80% of board operational expenses, I believe. That’s expected because we are educating children, not building planes.

Generally speaking: funding determines staffing and staffing determines class size.
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School division officials and principals would prefer smaller class sizes, of course, and they try to achieve them. But, when staffing and then scheduling decisions are made, there are lots of factors and it’s a complex puzzle.

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Funding is a big input into the complex matrix of decision making and so - having tracked funding and class size closely for at least 15 years - I always see that there is a general correlation between funding levels and class sizes.

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Time and time again, when funding is constrained, class sizes grow. Class size is actually a finely tuned barometer to the health of education funding.

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Let’s look at that barometer. I’m going to refer to the groundbreaking work done by @Jantafrench and the @edmontonjournal to talk about class size. Here is her comprehensive article on the matter:

edmontonjournal.com/news/local-new…

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First I note this from the article:

“The momentum reversed, and averages have crept up slowly in all grades since (2010).”

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infogram.com/average-number…

Funding since 2010 has failed to match either population growth or inflation. At the same time, there have been many smaller funding cuts around the edges. The smaller cuts, even when done to other grants, have always resulted in larger class sizes.

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From Janet’s research (from 2016-17, btw):
- a third of CBE high school classes have 35+ students
- In EPSB, 4 times as many classes have 36+ compared to 2005.
- 76 grade 8s in one gym class in Red Deer
- CCSD had tally 39 high school classes of 39 students
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Here is some really interesting data on class size from 2016/17
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infogram.com/percentage-of-…

Now let’s talk about since then. The UCP cut the funding for the class size initiative and stopped reporting on class size numbers. They cut total school board funding by $126 million this school year (this is before the additional COVID cuts; laying off EAs)

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Going into next year, school boards will have 30,000 more students than 2018 with $8 million less in operational funding.

We don’t have data on class size but know clearly they have gone up since 2018 and will be higher next year without additional funding.

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So, to bring it back around: for school administrators, funding determines staffing and staffing determines class size. It’s a complex puzzle and COVID adds costs and complexity.

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Not adding funding will greatly increase class size and that is the worst possible thing to do right now for the health and safety of students, staff, their families and frankly, all of society. Look at what happened in Israel.

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Read about this school with a huge outbreak 10 days after reopening.

“An environmental school inspection reported crowded classes: 35–38 students per class... Distancing among students and between students and teachers was not possible.”

eurosurveillance.org/content/10.280…
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So, yes Minister @AdrianaLaGrange, the NDPs plan is deeply flawed because it may not be achievable, but your plan is deeply flawed because it is unsafe and potentially deadly.

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What I’m asking here is for you to unchain school divisions and administrators from making bad decisions. Give them some more money so that more often they can decide to hire another teacher and split another class because that will make schools safer.

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If you give more money and it was unnecessary, the worst that happens is we have a higher deficit.

But if you don’t give more money and schools are overcrowded, the worst that happens is people die.

It’s just that simple. Make the right choice.

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