We believe that public education is a public good.
Privatization creep in education is a threat to the promise of public education.
Privatization is not about individuals paying for choices outside the public system, it's about diverting public dollars to private, unaccountable outfits.
Arguably, Alberta has one of the most privatized education systems in the country.
Not only does the government fund public, separate, and Francophone schools, but Alberta also subsidizes accredited private schools at a rate of 70% of the base per-student instructional rate.
Moreover, Alberta is the only province to legislate exclusive charter schools.
Under the guise of "school choice," successive governments have increasingly contributed to the diversion of public funds to uphold private education (private schools, home schools, and charter schools).
In reality, "choice" is only truly available to those who can access all the options by paying high tuition fees, travel far distances, pay uniform or society fees, etc.
We believe that public education is a public responsibility but privateers should not be siphoning resources from the public system.
By chronically underfunding the public system, the privatization agenda seeks to have students take their funding out of the system.
This practice is highly inequitable policy as children who do not have a choice other than their community school are losing access to education while public funds are propping up the most advantaged and affluent private institutions.
We advocate against privatization of education through these policy proposals:
1. Eliminating private school subsidies (Read more)
2. Rolling existing charter schools into public school boards (Read more)
3. Putting a cap back onto charter school expansion and eliminating capital building subsidies (Read more)
5. Significantly bolstering public school operations and infrastructure to ensure all students can attend their community public schools
Arguably, Alberta has one of the most privatized education systems in the country.
Not only does the government fund public, separate, and Francophone schools, but Alberta also subsidizes accredited private schools at a rate of 70% of the base per-student instructional rate.
Moreover, Alberta is the only province to legislate exclusive charter schools.
Under the guise of "school choice," successive governments have increasingly contributed to the diversion of public funds to uphold private education (private schools, home schools, and charter schools).
In reality, "choice" is only truly available to those who can access all the options by paying high tuition fees, travel far distances, pay uniform or society fees, etc.
We believe that public education is a public responsibility but privateers should not be siphoning resources from the public system.
By chronically underfunding the public system, the privatization agenda seeks to have students take their funding out of the system.
This practice is highly inequitable policy as children who do not have a choice other than their community school are losing access to education while public funds are propping up the most advantaged and affluent private institutions.
We advocate against privatization of education through these policy proposals:
1. Eliminating private school subsidies (Read more)
2. Rolling existing charter schools into public school boards (Read more)
3. Putting a cap back onto charter school expansion and eliminating capital building subsidies (Read more)
5. Significantly bolstering public school operations and infrastructure to ensure all students can attend their community public schools
