EDMONTON — The Alberta government is working harder than usual to sell its new budget to Albertans after it received a cool reception from educators Tuesday.

The television ad campaign got underway Tuesday just hours after parents, teachers and school boards slammed the $20-billion provincial budget for not resolving a funding shortfall that has been linked to an arbitrated teacher salary settlement last year.

In Alberta, school boards can no longer raise money for education and are entirely dependent on funding from the province.

The government also came under fire for not providing adequate funds for policing or for health care workers currently negotiating new deals.

Some voters expressed dismay that despite an anticipated $2.2 billion surplus last year there is little in the budget for the average Albertan. There were no tax hikes, but there were no tax cuts either.

The bulk of the surplus is going into two new funds - a capital fund to catch up on an infrastructure backlog and a stability fund aimed at smoothing out Alberta's boom-bust, energy-driven economy.

Finance minister Pat Nelson was out early Wednesday explaining the budget to a breakfast meeting at the Petroleum Club, the first of three speaking engagements scheduled for the day.

"I am responsible to go out and talk to Albertans and let them know what we're doing with their dollars," she said following a noon-hour address to the St. Alberta Chamber of Commerce, just outside of Edmonton.

"We made a commitment that we would let Albertans know what we're doing with their money and one of the best vehicles is to put something out in the media - and it costs us to buy ads."

The "feel-good" television ads focused on what the budget offered families and children and directed Albertans to the government's Web site to learn more about how their tax dollars are being spent.

New Democrat leader Raj Pannu said the Tories are right to be concerned after serving up "a turkey" of a budget.

"It's a budget that will cause them lots of problems and they will counter the hammering they are getting from school boards and from parents with taxpayers' money," he said.

"They have 74 MLAs. If they want to sell their budget, they should send them out to their constituencies to talk to the people - not spend our money."

Liberal leader Ken Nicol wondered why, if the budget was such good news, that the government had to spend taxpayers' money to tell Albertans about it.

"If their ideas are good, Albertans will hear them through the regular media. They are spending your money to convince you that you like it."

Finance officials said Nelson's department and several others chipped in on a $230,000 campaign of television and newspaper advertising.

"It's not huge," said Jerry Bellikka, a finance department spokesman. "It is actually pretty modest."

Bellikka said the province didn't launch an ad campaign to promote last year's budget, but it has taken such steps in the past.

Education minister Lyle Oberg said that the budget was getting a much better ride in Calgary than it has in Edmonton where the Edmonton Public School Board has said it will have to layoff teachers and boost class sizes as a result of the funding shortfall.

"The comments in Calgary were that it sounds like an election budget," he said.

Oberg said he believes the school boards will eventually realize they are better off than they first thought.
"It is a five per cent increase. It's probably twice as much as they were expecting.

"Are things going to be tight? Yeah, I think they're still going to be tight. I think in education it is tight almost every year."

Public educators in the central Alberta city of Red Deer were still fuming about the budget Wednesday.

"The budget is not good for students," said Cindy Jefferies, school board chair of Red Deer Public School District.

"First glance is we're going to walk away with less. It looks like we'll be reducing programming and reducing staff in the coming year."

Ed Somerville, president of the Alberta Teachers' Association Local 60, told the Red Deer Advocate that he fears elementary classes will bear the brunt of the cuts.

"In Red Deer, it means fewer teachers and larger classes, as if we weren't hurting already," he said. "In a province as wealthy as Alberta, it's sad education is not a priority."