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Official Media Releases

Support Our Students calls on public, separate and francophone school boards to release proposed charter school notifications

1/31/2022

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 31, 2022

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
 
Letter sent to Alberta School Boards Association follows:
_____
Support Our Students Alberta Foundation
P.O. Box 75028 CAMBRIAN
​Calgary AB, T2K 6J8

(La version française suit la présente version anglaise)
 
21 January, 2022
 
Alberta School Boards Association
1200, 9925 109 St
Edmonton, AB T5K 2J8
 
RE: PUBLIC NOTIFICATION AND CONSULTATION
OF CHARTER SCHOOL APPLICATIONS

 
Boards of the Public, Separate and Francophone School Authorities of Alberta,
 
Albertans have become aware of charter school applications recently approved by the Minister of Education. These charter school applications were conspicuously lacking in general public awareness and consultation intended by legislation; as you are aware, pursuant to Section 24 of the Education Act, the Minister shall “provide notice of the application for a new charter school and the proposed programming to every board of a public or separate school division and Francophone regional authority.” School boards have the responsibility to make public any notifications of charter school applications they may receive from the Minister and initiate and lead robust public consultations surrounding the impacts such a charter school would have, if approved, on the public education system.
 
More charter school applications are very likely to be under current consideration of the Minister without general public knowledge and similarly lacking robust public consultation.
 
Support Our Students Alberta calls upon all boards of Public, Separate and Francophone School Authorities of Alberta to make public any notifications of charter school applications they may have received, or alternately, confirm that no charter school notifications have been received, within a timely manner of notification by the Minister of Education and commit to leading public consultations moving forward.
 
Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to your response.
 
Sincerely,
 
Medeana Moussa
Executive Director
Support Our Students Alberta
 
--

 
21 janvier 2022
 
Association des commissions scolaires de l’Alberta
1200, 9925 109 St
Edmonton, AB T5K 2J8
 
OBJET : NOTIFICATION ET CONSULTATION
PUBLIQUES DES DEMANDES D'ÉCOLES À CHARTE
 
Conseils des autorités scolaires publiques, séparées et francophones de l'Alberta,
 
Les Albertains ont pris connaissance des demandes d'écoles à charte récemment approuvées par le ministre de l'Éducation. Comme vous le savez, en vertu de l'article 24 de la Loi sur l'éducation, le ministre doit "aviser chaque conseil scolaire d'une division scolaire publique ou séparée et chaque autorité régionale francophone de la demande de création d'une nouvelle école à charte et de la programmation proposée". Les conseils scolaires ont la responsabilité de rendre public tout avis de demande d'école à charte qu'ils peuvent recevoir du ministre et d'initier et de diriger de solides consultations publiques sur les impacts qu'une telle école à charte aurait, si elle était approuvée, sur le système d'éducation publique.
 
Il est très probable que d'autres demandes d'écoles à charte soient actuellement examinées par le ministre sans que le grand public en soit informé et sans qu'il n’y ait eu de consultation publique rigoureuse.
 
Support Our Students Alberta demande à tous les conseils d'administration des écoles publiques, séparées et francophones de l'Alberta de rendre publiques toutes les notifications de demandes d'écoles à charte qu'ils ont reçues, ou alternativement, de confirmer qu'aucune notification d'école à charte n'a été reçue, en temps opportun après notification par le ministre de l'Éducation et de s'engager à diriger les consultations publiques à l'avenir.
 
Nous vous remercions de votre attention et demeurons dans l’attente de votre réponse.
 
Sincèrement,
 
Medeana Moussa
Directrice générale
Support Our Students Alberta
 
-30-

Media inquiries about this release can be directed at:
Wing Li (she/her)
Communications Director
[email protected]

Comments are closed.
Support Our Students Alberta is a non-partisan public education advocacy organization with chapters across Alberta. We are run by passionate volunteers and community donations.

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SOS acknowledges that we advocate in Treaties 6, 7 & 8, traditional territory of the Cree, Blackfoot, Metis, Nakota Sioux, Iroquois, Dene and Ojibway/Saulteaux/Anishinaabe. We are grateful to work on their land and we pledge that this organization will actively work to end systemic racism and pursue truth and reconciliation.

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