- News Release
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada … In a brief followup report on the 2018 audit on Alberta Education’s Student Class Size Initiative program, Auditor General Doug Wylie said based on the elimination of the program in Budget 2019, the outstanding recommendation related to the program is no longer relevant.
In February 2018, the Auditor General found despite $2.7 billion in funding spent through the program between 2004 and 2017, the number of school jurisdictions that met the department’s class size initiative targets was lower in 2017 than in 2004. The Auditor General issued a recommendation that “if the department of Education continues the Class Size Initiative, the department should develop an action plan to improve processes to regularly monitor and report on the initiative.”
“As the department has eliminated targeted Class Size Initiative funding, our 2018 recommendation is no longer applicable,” Wylie said. “The recommendation will be removed from the Alberta Education’s list of 13 outstanding recommendations due to the change of circumstances.”
Alberta Education is currently developing a new kindergarten to Grade 12 Assurance and Funding Framework with a planned completion by September 2020.
The February 2020 Report of the Auditor General on Processes to Manage the Student Class Size Initiative Followup is available at www.oag.ab.ca.
Appointed under Alberta’s Auditor General Act, the Auditor General is the legislated auditor of every provincial ministry, department, and most provincial agencies, boards, commissions, and regulated funds. The audits conducted by the Office of the Auditor General report on how government is managing its responsibilities and the province’s resources. Through our audit reports, we provide independent assurance to the 87 Members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, and the people of Alberta, that public money is spent properly and provides value.
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For more information, please contact:
Val Mellesmoen
Executive Director, Stakeholder Engagement
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Email: vmellesmoen@oag.ab.ca
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