Alberta govnt passes bill to open the door to more charter schools (& NO homeschool funding)
- Jul 1, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 2, 2021
Lisa Johnson, Ashley Joannou
Publishing date: May 29, 2020 • Last Updated 1 month ago • 4 minute read
Bill 15, the Choice in Education Act, which would take effect Sept. 1, .....affirms that parents have the right to choose the education that’s best for their children, and also
opens the door to unsupervised, unfunded homeschooling.
Parents would need to submit a plan that demonstrates the opportunity to achieve learning outcomes, but not get approval of their plan from the government or be supervised by school boards.
“This legislation enshrines the belief of Albertans in freedom, diversity, pluralism, and choice as well as parental responsibility, because we believe that parents know better than politicians or bureaucrats about what’s in the best interests of their kids,” said Premier Jason Kenney at a Thursday morning news conference.
“We fund charter schools to 100 per cent funding, similar to our public schools, and I don’t see a change because those dollars follow the student,” said LaGrange.
Education Minister Adriana LaGrange said she has not had any applications for new charter schools since taking office.
Kenney said he anticipates the legislation will create more efficiency rather than competition for resources.
“The costs of supporting a child in independent schools and homeschooling are substantially lower than in the fully funded public schools and charters do operate more efficiently on a per pupil basis,” Kenney said.
Under the legislation, charter school operators would be excluded from the board procedures regulation — meaning they wouldn’t need to be governed by specific rules on board meetings, policies and procedures, bylaw requirements and quorum.
The following information was taken from the link provided below:
Comments below written by Home Education Funding Alberta:
Bill 15 took all funding away for Home Educators who don't need it, BUT what about the other Home Educators who do? Should they then now be able to double their funds $1700 X 2? Why has this option not been mentioned or offered in Bill 15?!
What happens to the funding amount that Home Schoolers will not use because they do not want any government intervention? Do the dollars go back into the Public sector? Why not use all these excess of funds for the Home Schoolers who want funding and who want an increase in their funding. Besides, as Kenney said above, "homeschooling {is} substantially lower {in cost} than in the fully funded public schools."
Yes, this proves my point again, so thank you Mr. Kenney. Let's increase funding for Home Educators and that way we save Albertans and the budget millions of dollars! This is a fact!
Besides, the push for more charter schools is kind of irrelevant because they have the same "brick and mortar" institutional costs as Public schools but on a smaller scale, and the Education Minister Adriana LaGrange said she "has not had any new applications for new charter schools since taking office."
So what is the real intention of Bill 15?
It appears to take away funding for Home Education under the guise of more independence, thereby diverting Home Education funds into the public education sector, out of the hands of the Home Educators who need it most. They say we will have more educational freedom, but no funding. However, for many less fortunate home school parents, that is not an option; and "no funding" equals "no educational freedom", and it is their children who will primarily suffer for it.
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