{"id":53201,"date":"2019-12-08T11:50:58","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T18:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=53201"},"modified":"2021-02-07T02:05:19","modified_gmt":"2021-02-07T09:05:19","slug":"mla-school-trustee-deplore-government-cuts-to-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2019\/12\/08\/mla-school-trustee-deplore-government-cuts-to-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"MLA, school trustee deplore government cuts to schools"},"content":{"rendered":"
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School supporters<\/strong>: Julie Hrdlicka, Trustee for Calgary Board of Education, left, and Rakhi Pancholi, NDP MLA, after a panel presentation on what Kenney government’s budget cuts mean for kids. The meeting was held at the Shawnessy Public Library on Nov. 24.(Photo by Marijo Abad}\/SAIT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

T<\/span>he Kenney government is not keeping up with the need to support public and Catholic system students, a public meeting has been told.<\/p>\n

R<\/span>akhi Pancholi, an Edmonton area MLA for the NDP<\/a>, and Julie Hrdlicka, \u00a0trustee for Calgary Board of Education<\/a>, spoke about the provincial government\u2019s budget cuts, and how they will affect kids. The discussion was held at the Shawnessy Public Library on Nov. 24.<\/p>\n

Pancholi said that the budget, which has not yet been passed, is opposed by the NDP.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we see that\u2019s very clear is that much of what people were anxious about was absolutely valid,\u201d said Pancholi.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are talking a little about the impact on kids and families and classrooms,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Pancholi said grant reductions in the budget will result in cuts to what is available to put into classrooms, per student.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the last nine years, the money that we have received from the government has not kept pace with the demands that our kids need to support them in our system,\u201d said Hrdlicka.<\/p>\n

The CBE<\/a> is given an envelope of money from the government.<\/p>\n

Hrdlicka said that the money is redirected to the classroom.<\/p>\n

Hrdlicka added that that there is a second batch of money that the CBE receives which is approximately $9,000 a student.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take that money and we disperse it throughout the city based on the need,\u201d said Hrdlicka.<\/p>\n

She said that there are communities and schools that have different needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe as a system, make a decision based on the best needs of our kids to support them,\u201d said Hrdlicka.<\/p>\n

She said that some communities have kids with high risk or kids with special needs more than others.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the money doesn\u2019t follow the child,\u201d said the trustee.<\/p>\n

Hrdlicka said that teachers’ aides will no longer be available, nor will the librarians or librarian assistants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey no longer have those people to rely on,\u201d said Hrdlicka, referring to the students.<\/p>\n

Pancholi said that cuts will also be made to post-secondary institutions, and the Alberta child and family benefit program.<\/p>\n

She also said that the support for child care is going to end this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that there have been cuts to a lot of child care subsidies,\u201d said Pancholi.<\/p>\n

Those affected would include parents who rely on family members to provide child care.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat subsidy has been cut,\u201d said the MLA.<\/p>\n

Pancholi also said that stay-at-home parents who are sending their kids to pre-school or early education has been cut.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt irritates me,\u201d said Laura Saunder, a stay-at-home mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that it\u2019s hard for a lot of parents here in Alberta because there has been a lot of cuts in regards to jobs, and when there are cuts in regards to jobs, it\u2019s hard for families to survive in Calgary,\u201d said Saunder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis directly affects the children,\u201d said Saunder.<\/p>\n

Saunder was laid off from her job a year ago and has been struggling to find a job in her field.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have come to the point where we think it’s okay to devalue public education and that is what has gotten us here,\u201d said Hrdlicka.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a very challenging position.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStay tuned because this is going to get a whole lot worse,\u201d said Pancholi.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe purpose of the support and grants is to help families have a better life, Kenney is cutting their standard of living,\u201d said Saunder.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Education supporters:<\/strong> Julie Hrdlicka, Trustee for Calgary Board of Education, left, and Rakhi Pancholi, NDP MLA, discussed what the Kenney government\u2019s cuts mean for kids during a panel presentation. The discussion was held at the Shawnessy Public Library on Nov. 24. (Photo by Marijo Abad\/SAIT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kenney government is not keeping up with the need to support public and Catholic system students, a public meeting has been told. Rakhi Pancholi, an Edmonton area MLA for the NDP, and Julie Hrdlicka, [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":553,"featured_media":53205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S5 Impact of Kenney's cuts on kids","footnotes":""},"categories":[1432,13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-53201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business-jobs","8":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/553"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53201"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53380,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53201\/revisions\/53380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}