Calgary school board chair: 'We may be very close to the breaking point'

Budget will cut 331 job positions, including teachers

By Matt McClure, Calgary Herald

CALGARY - Class sizes at Calgary’s public schools are set to grow come September after trustees approved a budget Tuesday that will cut hundreds of jobs — including the positions of 171 frontline teachers — even as enrolment rises.

Despite exhausting its rainy day reserves and dramatically hiking some fees it charges parents, chairwoman Pat Cochrane said the Calgary Board of Education couldn’t spare students and teachers from sharing the pain as it sought to balance its books despite a $61.7-million shortfall.

“There’s a lot of human beings who won’t be working with our kids next year,” Cochrane said.

“We may be very close to the breaking point.”

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