Nearly 2,000 CBE employees temporarily laid off as a result of reduced funding
Posted Apr 9, 2020 3:22 pm.
Last Updated Apr 9, 2020 3:23 pm.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) – About 1,900 full-time Calgary Board of Education (CBE) employees will be receiving their temporary layoff notices as of today.
The layoffs will be effective for May and June 2020.
This comes as the UCP government announced they were cutting budgets to education and reallocating the money into the province’s response to COVID-19.
In a release Friday, the CBE said about $21 million was being cut from its budget for this year so the province could combat the virus.
Superintendents first looked at other costs within the organization before eventually coming to the decision to reduce staff.
The CBE said with all changes it made, only 60 per cent of the $21 million could be saved, hence the layoffs.
About 1,030 of the 1,900 staff affected include part-time breakfast and lunch supervisors, cleaners, library assistants, CTS instructors, psychologists, speech and language pathologists as well as other admirative and support staff.
The last day of work for the employees affected by the change will be Thursday, April 30. Most employees who are being laid off will be eligible to apply for federal income assistance.
Thanks to other budget savings, the CBE said it will be able to keep around 880 education assistants working until the end of the current school year.
