On May 22, Rocky View Schools (RVS) Board approved the 2025/26 budget, which prioritizes classroom funding and maximizing direct support for student learning.
Most of the $344.5 million budget will go directly to schools in areas such as classroom and school staffing; numeracy, literacy, career learning and inclusion supports; Indigenous knowledge-building; technology and school-based supplies and resources.
“The Board continues to stretch every dollar we receive and direct as many resources as possible to schools to support learning, providing access to a variety of supports to enhance student and staff wellness while improving facilities and technology infrastructure," the Board Chair Fiona Gilbert said.
RVS expects to welcome 500 new students in Sept. 2025. To support rising enrolments and diversity and complexities in classrooms, about 90 per cent of instructional dollars will go directly to schools with the remaining dollars managed centrally to support schools and school staff. The division will maintain class size guidelines with 1,430 teaching staff and school administrators in total. RVS maintains a budget for system administration at 2.99 per cent, prioritizing additional spending in areas of greatest operational need. The budget requires $1.4 million of operating reserves to balance the budget while maintaining a reserve balance of one to two per cent, which is just above the mandated amount set by the government and within RVS’ own guidelines for budget 2025/26.
RVS remains focused on strengthening numeracy and literacy skills by providing schools with direct staffing for these targeted areas in elementary schools with additional support from learning specialists, along with dedicated specialists in English as an Additional Language and Indigenous Learning. A dedicated team of 45 full-time speech-language pathologists, psychologists, occupational and physical therapists, family school liaisons and learning specialists will work directly with classroom teachers to support students with complex needs.
“Supporting our dedicated teachers through coaching and in-classroom collaboration is essential to strengthening student learning,” Superintendent of Schools Greg Luterbach said. “The board’s continued investment in learning supports plays a vital role as we advance literacy and numeracy and implement the new curriculum in our classrooms.”
This budget will continue to provide choice for students with investment in diverse learning opportunities and environments such as two online schools, career and dual credit opportunities, Community Learning Centres, Building Futures and the RVS Mechanics Training Centre. The board’s support of these unique offerings demonstrates their ongoing commitment to engaging students in diverse learning opportunities and connecting them with career pathways.
Transportation expenditures will increase to $27.3 million for the 2025/26 school year based on increased contractor costs, student enrolment and an anticipated 14 additional bus routes. While the Board has successfully maintained transportation fees over the last four years, mounting costs require fee increases to cover the gap between government funding for transportation and costs for providing the service. To minimize the overall impact to families across the division, the regular annual transportation fee will increase by $70 to $395 in 2025/26 for Grades 1 to 12 and RVS will introduce a half-time rate for Kindergarten riders, while maintaining family and early registration discounts. Families are encouraged to register before June 30, 2025, for the discounted rate.
“Continued increases in provincial investment into Kindergarten – Grade 12 public education that is available to all students is necessary to ensure all students have the education they deserve," Gilbert said.
RVS will submit its 2025/26 Budget to Alberta Education by May 31, 2025.
