Livingstone Range and Holy Spirit each gain teams, but a local teacher says one-time money won’t fix years of underfunding

Livingstone Range School Division will receive one new classroom support team and the Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Separate School Division two, part of a $100-million provincial spend on what the government calls increasingly complex classrooms.

Both divisions received larger allocations in the winter — two teams for Livingstone Range and five for Holy Spirit, all in kindergarten through Grade 6. This round extends the support into higher grades, where local teachers say the need is mounting and the help, while welcome, falls short of what’s required.

The funding, announced June 29, will create 223 new complexity teams across the province — 160 for grades 7 to 12 and 63 for kindergarten through Grade 6. Of the $100 million, $75 million funds the teams and $25 million improves access to specialized supports and training in rural and remote communities.

“Every student deserves a safe, supportive classroom, and every teacher deserves the tools to succeed,” says Demetrios Nicolaides, minister of education and child care. “This money will strengthen supports, improve safety and ensure teachers have the resources to manage increasingly complex classrooms.”

Every public, separate and francophone school jurisdiction in Alberta will receive at least one additional complexity team, deployed at the school-authority level so divisions can direct support where needs are greatest.

Locally, the two new Holy Spirit teams and one Livingstone Range team are for grades 7 to 12. It is up to each division to decide which of its schools the teams serve.

Cautious optimism

Ron Gillespie, a teacher at Crowsnest Consolidated High School in Coleman and past president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association Local No. 14, says the funding reflects ongoing gaps rather than a new solution.

He welcomes the funding but calls it “reactionary,” a response to years of underfunding rather than a sustained fix.

“This is a short-term response by throwing money at an issue that we, as an association of professionals and parents and communities, have been calling attention to for a long time,” Gillespie says.

While one complexity team may translate locally into one teacher and one educational assistant, he says the impact remains limited.

“That’s not a lot, but it is something,” he says. “What it looks like on the ground, I’m not sure yet. A lot of that is going to be handled divisionally and those are decisions made outside the purview of teachers.”

Gillespie also raises concerns about recruitment, particularly in rural settings. He says the province’s broader hiring targets raise questions about where those teachers will come from, with schools already seeing fewer applicants than in previous years and additional challenges with housing costs and support staff retention.

“We used to have lineups for applications and that has dwindled,” he says. “Sometimes we’re looking for two feet and a heartbeat to try to get into classrooms.”

Gillespie supports the province’s plan to fast-track professionals from the trades and business into teaching, but only if they receive proper training before entering the classroom.

He says Alberta remains among the lowest-funded provinces per student for public schooling and that sustained, predictable funding — rather than a one-time investment — is what would make a lasting difference for students with complex needs.

Statistics Canada‘s most recent figures, for 2022-23, put Alberta school boards’ operating spending at $11,464 per student, about 16 per cent below the national average of $13,692.

The provincial breakdown

Each Grade 7-12 team includes a teacher and an educational assistant, with access to behaviour specialists, social workers and other specialists.

The funding is part of $355 million in Budget 2026 for class size and complexity, which also includes a $200-million grant to hire more than 1,400 teachers and reduce class sizes. It builds on a $143-million commitment in February for up to 476 complexity teams in K-6 classrooms.

Teachers welcome funding, press for delivery

The Alberta Teachers’ Association calls the announcement a step forward but says the real test is getting staff into classrooms.

“Any investment that recognizes the realities of class size and classroom complexity in Alberta’s classrooms is a welcome and important step forward. The challenge now is to actually get teachers in front of students,” says ATA president Jason Schilling.

“The success of today’s investment will be realized when qualified teachers are in schools by September, when resources reach the classrooms with the greatest need and when this funding is sustained over the long term,” he says.

The association says it will continue to push for sustained investment, predictable staffing and smaller class sizes.