Black Gold School Division

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Community Engagement & Advocacy

The Board of Trustees holds advocacy for public education as one of their key responsibilities. The following areas of priority (see below) are where we are currently focusing our efforts to best serve the needs of our students.

These priorities guide the Board’s advocacy efforts through the Alberta School Boards Association, MLA and municipal partner meetings, and through partnerships with other school boards and organizations to seek the necessary support and funding from the Province to serve the best interests of Black Gold students.

(Above) The Board of Trustees meets with various provincial and municipal officials, as well as other school boards and community partners throughout the year to advocate for the needs of the Black Gold School Division.

What can you do?
We invite you, our school community members, to support these advocacy efforts. You can speak up for public education by sharing these priority areas with your provincial elected officials including MLAs, Ministers, and Premier Smith.

2024-25 Board Advocacy Priority Areas

Support for Career Development 

Advocacy Priority: Sustainable Dual Credit Program Funding:

  • The Board will advocate for sustainable and ongoing funding for dual credit programs to support student pathways to post-secondary education and workplace training. This funding will build upon the existing start-up and enhancement grants, supporting students in gaining valuable hands-on experience and preparation for high-demand careers in the skilled trades and other fields.
  • The Board will advocate for a secure, ongoing funding structure for dual credit programs to support student success and the alignment of education with current workforce demands.

Support for Inclusive Education and Mental Health

Advocacy Priority: Addressing Classroom Complexity:

  • In light of increasing classroom complexity in our schools, the Board will advocate for systemic increases in Program Unit Funding (PUF). This funding is crucial to meet the needs of a growing number of students with complex needs – learning disabilities, behavioral challenges, language barriers, and special education requirements. An enhanced PUF program will support professional services such as speech language pathologists, physical therapists, psychologists, and mental health nurses. This support will ensure that all students, including those with developmental dependencies, can thrive academically and socially.
  • The Board will advocate for an increase in the Student Learning Support (SLS) funding to enhance inclusive education for K-12 students, such as extra student learning support, additional teaching support, and mental health support to meet the needs of increasing numbers of students with complex needs.

  • The Board will also advocate for increased Cross-Ministerial collaboration to leverage diverse perspectives, expertise, and resources to address multifaceted issues facing our schools and communities, such as Family Enhancement – protecting and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of students who may be at risk of abuse, neglect, or in other harm’s way and situation.

    Program Unit Funding Infographic (coming soon)
    Inclusive Education Infographic (coming soon)

Support for Sustainable and Equitable Funding

Weighted Moving Average (WMA):

  • The Board believes that every student must be fully funded every year. While we appreciate the predictability of funding, the current Weighted Moving Average (WMA) disadvantages growing school boards, as it does not fully fund student enrolment growth because the number of funded students is always less than the actual number of students in the school system.

  • Since WMA funding allocations are partially based on enrolment from previous years, Black Gold is always lagging behind when trying to meet the needs of current students.

  • The Alberta Government needs to fund school authorities based on the number of students as measured in the fall of each year, to help school boards match the number of students with the number of teachers, support staff, and other resources necessary to support student success.

    WMA Infographic (downloadable/printable PDF)

UPDATE: The Board was encouraged to note that as a result of our ongoing, sustained solo and joint advocacy efforts, the Premier and Education Minister have both publicly acknowledged the limitations of the current Weighted Moving Average (WMA) funding model, especially for rapidly growing school divisions like Black Gold.

Minister Demetrios Nicolaides has said that he has initiated discussions with the Treasury Board to develop a new funding formula, aiming to implement it by the 2025 budget. The goal is to create a model that better accommodates the diverse needs of all school divisions, ensuring more responsive and equitable funding.

Support for Growing Communities

  • Capital Construction: The Board has also been meeting with our area MLAs Brandon Lunty and Andrew Boitchenko, and the City of Beaumont, to discuss the urgent need for a another high school in the rapidly-growing community. École Secondaire Beaumont Composite High School, the city’s only high school, is now at 101% utilization and is projected to reach 126% utilization by September 2026. Ancillary spaces such as libraries, student services, etc., are too small for the size of the student population.

UPDATE: Beaumont City Council has committed a shovel-ready school site in the Azur/Lakeview neighborhood for a new high school, and we are waiting for a funding announcement from the Province. Minister Nicolaides recently announced the $8.6 billion School Construction Accelerator Program, which aims to address rapid population growth and increasing student enrolment by funding up to 30 new schools and eight modernization projects annually for the next three years. We are hopeful that a new Beaumont high school will be among those announced in Budget 2025.

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