According to the Funding Manual for School Authorities 2005-2006 School Year (Alberta Education, 2005), funded ESL learners are entitled to $1,020 per student in ESL Supplementary Grant, as well as $4,963 per funded learner in Basic Instruction. Younger ESL children who are qualified for Early Childhood Services (ECS) are entitled to .5 FTE funding or $636 per pupil. Though research studies have shown that the uneven, long and winding process of second language acquisition requires direct and varying support over the K-12 educational experience (Collier, 1995; Roessingh & Kover, 2003), funded ESL learners and children can receive ESL supplementary funding for only a maximum of 5 years. Older ESL learners also no longer qualify for any K-12 instructional funding from the September after their 19th birthday. For kindergarten ESL children, funding allocation for half-time ESL services in the ECS is considered as one year of funding, with the result that their K-12 ESL funding is limited to 4 years.

At the school board level, decision makers generally allocate only the ESL Supplementary funding to ESL programs. At a conservative salary rate of $70,000 per FTE teacher, this practice will require combined ESL Supplementary funding from 69 funded ESL learners to hire 1 FTE ESL teacher (69 funded ESL learners x $1,020 per funded Grade 1-12 ESL learner = $70,000).

In addition to linguistic needs, ESL learners are confronted with complex sociocultural challenges in their acculturation. Yet the current funding framework does not allow for any sociocultural support. Only those with extraordinary circumstances, such as limited schooling or refugee experience, are entitled to $357 per funded learner for Enhanced ESL and Support Services. At the rate of $55,000 per FTE social worker, it will require funding from 154 funded learners to afford 1 FTE social worker ($55,000/$357 per pupil = 154 learners).

Since the 2004-05 school year, school boards have no longer been required to report in quantifying terms to Alberta Education how they use ESL funding to provide language instruction. At the school board level, schools are also not required to report how they use ESL monies. Furthermore, allocation of funding to ESL services, for most part, depends on the subjective judgment of individual school principals. There is no linkage between allocated ESL funding and tracking of language and academic progress of ESL learners.