Calgary’s schools are bursting at the seams while our provincial coffers overflow with oil revenue—a contradiction that’s become increasingly difficult to ignore. As I walked through the hallways of Sir Winston Churchill High School last week, Principal Sarah Nguyen showed me classrooms designed for 25 students now accommodating nearly 35.
“We’re making do, but it’s not sustainable,” Nguyen told me, pointing to a science lab where students were sharing equipment in cramped quarters. “These kids deserve better, especially when our province is so resource-rich.”
The numbers tell a stark story. Alberta collected a record $27.3 billion in non-renewable resource revenue last year, according to provincial budget documents. Meanwhile, per-student funding has effectively decreased when adjusted for inflation, creating a growing disconnect between our energy wealth and educational investment.
Calgary Board of Education data shows enrollment increased by nearly 15,000 students over the past five years while funding formulas failed to keep pace with inflation. The result? Larger class sizes, fewer specialized programs, and increasingly stretched resources.
Education Minister David Johnson defended the government’s approach when I reached him by phone yesterday. “We maintain one of the best-funded education systems in Canada,” he said. “But fiscal responsibility means making strategic decisions about how taxpayer dollars are allocated.”
Critics, however, point to the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund, which was established in 1976 specifically to save oil wealth for future generations. The fund now sits at approximately $21.4 billion—a figure that’s disappointingly low compared to similar funds in places like Norway, whose oil fund exceeds $1.3 trillion.
“We’ve failed to properly invest our resource revenue for long-term benefit,” explained Dr. Jennifer Martinez, economics professor at the University of Calgary. “Education funding should be considered essential infrastructure—an investment, not an expense.”
The impacts are most visible in rapidly growing communities like Coventry Hills and Auburn Bay, where schools operate well beyond capacity. At Kenneth D. Taylor School, temporary portables have become permanent fixtures, with some students spending their entire elementary education in these provisional classrooms.
Parent advocate Teresa Wong has been fighting for increased education funding for three years. “The government boasts about balanced budgets while our kids sit in overcrowded classrooms,” she said during a recent school council meeting I attended. “Oil revenue should be lifting all boats, not just corporate interests.”
Calgary Teachers’ Association president Michael Roberts points to teacher burnout as another consequence. “We’re seeing unprecedented levels of stress among educators,” he shared over coffee at a Kensington café. “Many are leaving the profession entirely after finding themselves responsible for too many students with increasingly diverse needs.”
The contrast becomes even sharper when comparing urban and rural districts. While both face challenges, Calgary and Edmonton schools contend with larger class sizes and more complex demographic needs, including higher percentages of English language learners and students requiring specialized support.
I’ve covered Alberta’s oil economy for nearly fifteen years, and one thing remains consistent—our province struggles to translate resource wealth into generational investments. Countries like Norway demonstrate alternative approaches, having created sovereign wealth funds that generate steady returns for public services regardless of oil price fluctuations.
Provincial officials maintain that balancing multiple priorities remains challenging. “We’re managing healthcare demands, infrastructure needs, and debt reduction simultaneously,” budget spokesperson Andrea Clark explained in an emailed statement. “Education remains a priority, but within a framework of fiscal responsibility.”
Yet former Alberta Treasury Board analyst Thomas Reid, who recently retired after 22 years in government, offered a more candid assessment when we met at his acreage outside the city. “The political calculation has always favored immediate tax relief and small surpluses over long-term investment,” he said. “It’s easier to win elections that way, but we’re shortchanging our future.”
The funding gap appears to be widening even as oil revenues reached historic highs last year. The Alberta Teachers’ Association calculates that when adjusted for inflation, schools receive approximately $1,100 less per student than they did in 2012, despite the province’s growing wealth.
What makes this situation particularly frustrating for education advocates is watching neighboring provinces without significant resource revenue making larger educational investments. British Columbia, for instance, recently announced major initiatives to reduce class sizes and increase teacher hiring.
For students like 17-year-old Jasmine Patel, who I met during my visit to Sir Winston Churchill, the impacts are tangible. “My physics class has 38 students and not enough lab equipment,” she explained. “My teacher is amazing, but she can only do so much when spread so thin.”
As Calgary continues growing, with Statistics Canada projecting our population to exceed 1.7 million by 2030, the education funding question becomes increasingly urgent. Without strategic investment from our oil wealth, we risk creating an educational system that fails to prepare the next generation for the very economic diversification our province desperately needs.
Whether our political leaders have the foresight to connect these dots remains to be seen. But one thing is clear—Alberta’s oil wealth offers an opportunity that few jurisdictions enjoy. How we leverage that opportunity will define not just our classrooms today, but our province’s prosperity for generations to come.
