Letter: Balancing books is pointless if children are left behind

To the editor,

Last week’s editorial “Balancing the Books is Good in the Long Run” argued that our UCP provincial government is governing our province well and that the budget surplus should be celebrated.

We Albertans are very fortunate that about 25% of our provincial budget comes 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 who don’t know, Alberta is now LAST for education funding per student in Canada. The number of students per class is now so high that the province has simply decided to stop collecting data on class sizes (we have to respect the elegance of this solution). Children with special needs are also included in these classes as part of “inclusive education” but often don’t get any extra help (great way to save money). Teachers are so stressed that many leave the profession and never look back, making the teacher shortage a crisis. Requests from Rocky View School District to the province for additional support are routinely denied.

But don’t worry folks – we have a $4.3 billion budget surplus! I’m sure our kids will be just fine. Whatever they’re missing in their chaotic classrooms, I’m sure they’ll learn from TikTok.

Travis Smit,

Cochrane, AB