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When asked why the ministry had changed its position on maintaining school funding, Aitchison emphasized that the decision is “temporary.”

The Alberta Teachers’ Association estimates that around 6,000 substitute teachers and up to 20,000 support staff will be affected by the cuts.

“We continue to have concerns about how students with special needs will be supported through this time — many parents are struggling and need as much help as possible,” ATA president Jason Schilling said in a statement.

He said teachers stand in solidarity with those who are going to get laid off.

“I appreciate we are in extraordinary times, but laying off tens of thousands of workers at this time is the wrong direction.”

Trisha Estabrooks, chairwoman of the Edmonton Public School Board, said the news means changes to how schools will be able to roll out the programming it had planned to start at the end of spring break on Monday.

“We were under the clear impression, and we drafted those plans based on what we learned from the Ministry of Education a couple of weeks ago, which was that full funding allocation would be received for the remainder of the school year,” Estabrooks said Saturday.

She said the support staff were part of those plans.

“We need them. I think of some of our students that have special needs, for example. We know that EAs, for example, offer great support and great service to some of those kids,” she said.

“Certainly I have concerns about how are we going to continue to support some of those learners.”