The remainder of this paper will look at the impact of cuts to the following public school programs under the Calgary Board of Education: continuing education, native education, special education, English as a second language (ESL), and early childhood services (ECS). The Calgary Board is the largest public school Board in Canada with 96,000 students and an operating budget of $484 million. It should be acknowledged, however, that there are pronounced differences between urban and rural Boards and that information based on the Calgary Board cannot be assumed to represent all of Alberta.

Continuing Education

The provincial government budget apparently eliminates all basic and adult extension grants, for a cost saving of $10.8 million a year. This funding, from the Department of Advanced Education to adult upgrading programs, will be gone by the end of three years, and institutions will be forced to run programs on a cost - recovery basis, if at all. Such an approach would mean significantly increased costs for students and would eliminate educational choices for those who cannot afford the fees.

According to a representative from Viscount Bennett, a high school that focuses on continuing education programs for adults, adult upgrading programs are being "choked into oblivion by tighter funding and will likely disappear." Similarly, Alberta Vocational College -- a Calgary school that has a mandate to serve adults for upgrading, ESL, and vocational programs -- is facing the prospect of a merger with one of two local colleges, depending on the results of a provincial government feasibility study. The potential loss of program spaces would clearly be a blow to adult students who are trying to increase their chances of competing in the new "global economy," or who simply want to join the ranks of the employed.

Let me provide one example of an adult student affected by the cuts. Brenda is a young woman from Guatemala who first came to Calgary in 1991 at 18 years of age. She attended a high school which offered an ESL program until she became pregnant in 1992, at which time she was placed in a high school for pregnant teens at the grade 10 level. This school had no ESL program, and after her baby was born she was no longer eligible to stay. She moved to an intensive ESL program at the Alberta Vocational College. As a single mother with a young daughter, she is now 21 years of age and has yet to complete her grade 10 courses. While opportunities for such young women have traditionally been poor, it is clear that provincial cuts to adult education programs, on top of cuts to social assistance and student assistance, will further narrow prospects for education and employment.

Native Education

Articles appearing in the Calgary Herald in January of 1994 tell of the financial difficulties faced by the one native high school in Calgary: the Plains Indians Cultural Survival School (PICSS). As the only native-controlled high school in the Calgary School Board, it is the only public school in the region that provides an alternative program of academic and cultural studies for aboriginals. Since about 75 percent of native students in mainstream high schools quit before graduation, the existence of such a school is clearly important.

But while the provincial cuts will impact on all schools in the Calgary Board, the financial problems faced by PICSS have a longer history. In 1993, the Board cut funding to adult students. Since two thirds of PICSS' 450 or so students are over the age of 19, this action has had a devastating effect, as is evidenced by the desperate situation the school is now in. The principal is apparently appealing to the federal government to assist with the funding; however, the school may be forced to close. Though the recent provincial cuts will disproportionately effect particular programs and groups of students, the timing of the Calgary Herald articles could lead an uninformed reader to assume that the desperate situation of PICSS is due solely to the pending provincial cuts to education. It is important to recognize that funding cuts have been ongoing and that broader coalitions are necessary in order to increase public awareness of this fact.