We are Alberta's public education advocates, fighting for the right of all children to an equitable and accessible public education system.
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RELEASE:
March 16, 2022
Support Our Students Calls for End of Charter School Experiment:
Pick a Lane As Fully Public or Private
Since their introduction in 1994, Alberta charter schools have received 100% per student funding of public dollars but have been granted different regulations than public school boards. Charter schools are not obligated to admit every applicant, and can deny entry based on entrance exams or other factors. Charter schools are also governed by closed entities that are not democratically elected by the population at large. As such, they are publicly funded but privately operated. Neither fully public nor fully private.
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Support Our Students’ Reaction to Sudden Removal of School Protections
February 8, 2022
Tonight, Premier Jason Kenney announced sweeping elimination of safety protections in Alberta schools and called it a “cautious and prudent” approach when in fact, the sudden changes are unarguably reckless and illogical. Once again, the UCP prioritizes politics over the health and safety of students. To abruptly remove protections from schools on short notice, without school board consultation, risks throwing schools into chaos yet again. The fact remains that government has not been publishing school transmission data, nor have they produced clear evidence to convince the public that transmission rates have declined to a safe enough level. Testing and statistics were removed this entire semester. This is not a rational approach and does not consider the low vaccination rate of 5-11 year-olds. Nor does it take into account that children under 5 are not yet eligible for vaccination. Students who have followed the science and done their part to protect themselves and others are being punished by this sudden announcement. Ultimately, this rushed removal of protections for schools has a very real threat of increasing disruptions to learning and making an already tumultuous situation worse. Moreover, it endangers the health of students and education workers and will undoubtedly make safe education even more inaccessible for children. This unethical endangerment of Alberta’s students is unacceptable.
Take action: Use our letter writing tool (a joint initiative with the Alberta Federation of Labour to write to your MLA, Premier Kenney, Minister Lagrange):
February 8, 2022
Tonight, Premier Jason Kenney announced sweeping elimination of safety protections in Alberta schools and called it a “cautious and prudent” approach when in fact, the sudden changes are unarguably reckless and illogical. Once again, the UCP prioritizes politics over the health and safety of students. To abruptly remove protections from schools on short notice, without school board consultation, risks throwing schools into chaos yet again. The fact remains that government has not been publishing school transmission data, nor have they produced clear evidence to convince the public that transmission rates have declined to a safe enough level. Testing and statistics were removed this entire semester. This is not a rational approach and does not consider the low vaccination rate of 5-11 year-olds. Nor does it take into account that children under 5 are not yet eligible for vaccination. Students who have followed the science and done their part to protect themselves and others are being punished by this sudden announcement. Ultimately, this rushed removal of protections for schools has a very real threat of increasing disruptions to learning and making an already tumultuous situation worse. Moreover, it endangers the health of students and education workers and will undoubtedly make safe education even more inaccessible for children. This unethical endangerment of Alberta’s students is unacceptable.
Take action: Use our letter writing tool (a joint initiative with the Alberta Federation of Labour to write to your MLA, Premier Kenney, Minister Lagrange):
RELEASE:
January 31, 2022
Support Our Students calls on public, separate and francophone school boards to release proposed charter school notifications
In response to recent revelations that the Minister of Education has approved new charter school applications without public awareness or consultation, Support Our Students (SOS) Alberta delivered the attached letter last week to the boards of the public, separate and francophone school authorities of Alberta through the Alberta School Boards Association (ABSA). Our letter calls on them to make public any charter school notifications they are legally entitled to and to commit to leading public consultations in the future.
With the provincial government supporting charter school growth through the Choice in Education Act (Bill 15) which allows new charter school applications to bypass public school board adjudication, Albertans, more than ever, are in need of proactive leadership by Public, Separate and Francophone School Boards to protect our public education system. Section 24 of the Education Act still requires the Minister to at least notify school boards of proposed charter school applications. We need to leverage this remaining tool of public accountability to monitor diversion of public funds to the private charter system.
“It is imperative that the public be informed. We do not want our neighbourhood public schools where all children are welcome, to be taken over by special interest charter schools where only a select group have access. We call on school boards to provide transparency of charter applications to ensure broad public consultation can occur.” -Medeana Moussa, Executive Director of Support Our Students Alberta
Quick Facts:
In response to recent revelations that the Minister of Education has approved new charter school applications without public awareness or consultation, Support Our Students (SOS) Alberta delivered the attached letter last week to the boards of the public, separate and francophone school authorities of Alberta through the Alberta School Boards Association (ABSA). Our letter calls on them to make public any charter school notifications they are legally entitled to and to commit to leading public consultations in the future.
With the provincial government supporting charter school growth through the Choice in Education Act (Bill 15) which allows new charter school applications to bypass public school board adjudication, Albertans, more than ever, are in need of proactive leadership by Public, Separate and Francophone School Boards to protect our public education system. Section 24 of the Education Act still requires the Minister to at least notify school boards of proposed charter school applications. We need to leverage this remaining tool of public accountability to monitor diversion of public funds to the private charter system.
“It is imperative that the public be informed. We do not want our neighbourhood public schools where all children are welcome, to be taken over by special interest charter schools where only a select group have access. We call on school boards to provide transparency of charter applications to ensure broad public consultation can occur.” -Medeana Moussa, Executive Director of Support Our Students Alberta
Quick Facts:
- The UCP government’s Choice in Education Act (Bill 15) came into effect September 1, 2020. This legislation removed the requirement for charter school proposals to go through the local public school board, now the applications can go directly to the Minister of Education
- Bill 8 (2019) already removed the cap on charter schools (previously Alberta had a cap of 15 Charter School Authorities)
- Charter school operators are exempt from public board oversight and report directly to the ministry of Education
- Charter schools do not need to hire active union teachers or staff
- Charter schools receive 100% per-student instructional funding from government but are exempt from requiring open democratic elections for their governance boards (use of public funds without public transparency)
- Alberta is the only province in Canada allowing a charter school system
RELEASE:
December 13, 2021
Support Our Students deems changes to UCP K-6 draft curriculum insufficient and calls for a complete rewrite
Support Our Students (SOS) Alberta’s response to the December 13, 2021 announcement by Minister LaGrange of changes to the implementation of the draft K-6 curriculum is that the changes are minimal and cosmetic in nature, and do not represent the substantive and overarching revision that Albertans have called for.
Read our full response here.
Read our full response here.
10 Strategies for Equitable Public Education
We would like the Alberta Government to redefine and recommit the government’s responsibility to a more equitable public education system for all Alberta students.
- Make high quality early childhood education universal and accessible, leveling the playing field and closing the achievement gap for underprivileged children.
- Build schools as community engagement centres, comprehensive facilities where children and citizens can participate physically, intellectually and civically.
- Eliminate ALL barriers including all school-related fees (including, but not limited to, instructional materials, bussing, lunch supervision) and application procedures.
- All schools should have a full, inclusive, and balanced curriculum including but not limited to arts, music, science, history, language arts, additional languages, mathematics, and physical education.
- Reduce class sizes to bring them in line with the recommendations in the Alberta Learning Commission report of 2003 & provide adequate supports for classroom complexity.
- Integrate charter schools into public system, eliminating all fees and ability to deny access.
- Provide integrated services for students including medical and social services that help children keep up with advantaged peers. One in six Alberta children live in poverty.
- Reduce emphasis on high stakes standardized testing. Provide alternative and more comprehensive criteria for measuring student success.
- Return to specialization for teachers at all grade levels.
- Recognize that public education is a public responsibility not a consumer good. Its quality and accessibility should be equitable across the province.