Edmonton – Finance Critic Hugh MacDonald says that the government’s quarterly update glosses over an important fact: it collected an additional $181 million from education property taxes, yet is still forcing public school boards to increase class sizes and lay off approximately 500 teachers.

Edmonton and Calgary’s public and separate school boards face shortfalls amounting to tens of millions of dollars – much less than the additional education property tax revenue. The additional revenue could be used to fund the three percent wage increase owed to teachers, eliminating the public school boards’ budget shortfall and allowing the government to live up to its contractual obligations.

“This money would undoubtedly ease the pressure on Alberta’s school boards if the government would actually use it for schools,” MacDonald says. “There’s no reason whatsoever to deprive our children of a good education, not when the additional revenues from education property taxes more than cover the government-created shortfall.”

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