Debate over how Alberta will spend $8.6B in new school construction funding

It's been one month since Alberta's premier announced $8.6 billion to build 90 new schools over the next three years.

The province says the move gives parents more options, with public, private and charter schools eligible.

More choice has led to several opinions about how public money should be spent.

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For Edward Matsubara, smaller class sizes and an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at the STEM Collegiate charter school in south Edmonton convinced him to pull his twin 14-year-old sons out of the public system.

"It's sort of like getting private school without paying for private school, that's the way we saw it," Matsubara told CTV News Edmonton, adding he and his wife had their children on a waitlist for a little more than a year before they were accepted.

"If they can get a higher quality of education – higher quality of teachers, we found; higher quality of facilities – to equip our kids better, that's what we felt (was best). Whatever we can do to help them."

Cheryll Watson, the board chair of STEM Collegiate and a member of the Alberta Association of Public Charter Schools, says 12,000 students are registered, collectively, in charter schools across the province, with another 20,000 on waiting lists.

Charter school demand 'staggering'

Charter schools feature "the same curriculum for social studies, for English, for math and for science" and the same standardized testing as public schools, said Watson, adding that STEM Collegiate looks for ways to apply STEM in its programming as well as offering STEM-related options.

She said since the United Conservative Party government lifted the cap on charter schools in 2019, enrolment demand "has been staggering."

Edmonton is home to seven of Alberta's 38 charter schools. There could soon be more.

Premier Danielle Smith last month announced $8.6 billion for new school construction and money to create 50,000 spaces for students in the next three years and an additional 150,000 in the four years after that. The plan calls for 12,500 new spaces in charter schools over the next four years.

"The government has made a great commitment around choice in education, and parents and families are hearing about that opportunity," Watson told CTV News Edmonton.

"Alberta boasts one of the most diverse education systems in the country, and parents and students want that choice. They have special interests. They’re looking to build out their interests. They're looking to be among peers that share similar interests. I think this is about awareness, truly, of the diverse opportunities that are available."

Funding change sets up 'system of inequality'

Jason Schilling, the president of the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA), says he does not support the government's use of public money for charter or private schools.

He points out that charter schools, despite receiving government funding, do not operate under the same rules as the public system, "such as having a democratically elected school board."

"Charter schools are run by societies, run by parents," Schilling told CTV News Edmonton.

"They are run by people who might have connections to the government, and they don't have that public oversight of tax dollars that are going into these schools."

He said the use of public funding for charter and private schools "sets up a system of inequality."

"Our public system is in crisis right now. We have a lack of resources for our students. We have overcrowded classrooms," said Schilling, whose organization represents 43,500 teachers.

"We have a variety of things that are going on in our schools that need funding, yet we're diverting millions and millions of dollars into a private system which can pick and choose which students go to their classrooms, can set classroom caps. Things that the public system can't do – which we've been advocating for – the private system can do.

Alberta's public and Catholic systems served 709,855 students in the 2023-24 school year. 

Space for students top private school issue

Unlike charter schools, private schools charge tuition, yet receive 70 per cent of operational funding from the province. In order to receive provincial funding, private schools must follow the Alberta curriculum.

"We really are a system of school choice, and we are a vibrant part of it," John Jagersma, the executive director of the Association of Independent Schools and Colleges in Alberta, told CTV News Edmonton.

"I think if Albertans get to know who the independent schools are, they'll recognize the role we fit within the system."

About 53,000 students are registered in private schools in Alberta. Jagersma said in more than 80 per cent of them, the average household income of families whose children attend them "is at or below the average income for the province."

"When you ask ... who is going to these schools, it's your neighbours who are going," he said, pointing out that students who attend private schools get between $5,000 and $6,000 a year in government operational funding compared to about $11,000 per student in the public system.

"It's a diverse cross-section of Albertans who are coming to our schools ... There's absolutely a range of tuition. Are there certain schools that have quite a high tuition? There are, but there's lots of schools that are much more accessible to families. They have to be because of who's attending."

He said space is the No. 1 barrier to private school access. "If we increase funding in the province for programs of choice and for independent schools, we increase the number of spots families can access if it's a good fit for their kid."

Smith's announcement of the school construction funding marks the first time public funds would be used to help build private schools.

Alberta has history of school choice

Alberta Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides says such support is needed given the province is "dealing with historic levels of population growth and historic levels of enrolment pressure."

He defends the province's decision to fund such construction, arguing the United Conservative Party government is upholding an Alberta tradition.

"It's been history in Alberta to always provide opportunities for a variety of programming, and that's not an ideological view of just this current government," Nicolaides told CTV News Edmonton. Even previous governments, even the previous NDP government, provided support for private schools, including operating funding.

"Apart from just being a tradition ... I think all governments realize and recognize the value and the strength in ensuring that there are a variety of options for parents, and I think that's why it has spanned across different ideals, different ideologies, different parties."

Nicolaides said the announced $8.6 billion in additional capital funding will all go to public schools – "(a) portion of that will go to charters, which are public schools as well," he said – and that the government has "yet to finalize a program for private schools and what the funding would be associated to that."

"We are putting more money into the system to help build schools and create additional spaces," he said. "It's not as though we're closing down a public school so that we can provide more funding to a private school partner."

The minister says he has received more than 400 applications for the construction of new school buildings or renovations, 45 from charter schools.

He expects construction will begin next spring.