Dear Ms. Ramsey:
Thank you for your November 24, 2019 email, which you also sent Pat Rehn, MLA for Lesser Slave Lake, regarding independent (private) schools in Alberta. As Minister of Education, I am pleased to respond.
Education continues to be a top priority of our government. Through Budget 2019, we are maintaining education funding to account for enrolment growth and to ensure our students get the best education possible. Maintaining funding and reallocating some grants ensures every student who enters a school is funded. Our approach also gives school boards more flexibility in how they manage their resources while making the best use of public funds for students.
Total consolidated expense for Education is maintained at $8.2 billion in the 2019/20 fiscal year, the same as actual spending in 2018/19. When compared to other jurisdictions, Alberta still has one of the best‑funded education systems in Canada. We are spending $37 million per day to ensure our students receive the quality education that Albertans have come to know and expect. Government provides approximately $11,000 for each student in the public, separate and charter school jurisdictions. While enrolment over the last 15 years has grown by 25 per cent and inflation by 33 per cent, operating costs have grown by 80 per cent – this is unsustainable.
Alberta’s education system has a number of delivery methods—including public and separate schools, charter schools, independent schools, francophone schools and home education—that allow parents to select the method they feel will best help their child reach his or her potential. Our government is committed to maintaining this long and successful tradition of supporting school choice.
Many of our schools, including independent schools, continue to see an increase in their student population. To help alleviate the pressure this puts on school authorities, we are funding for enrolment. As funding follows the student, more funding is going to independent schools overall as their enrolment increases.
Funding for the Kindergarten to Grade 12 education system incorporates two revenue sources: general provincial revenues and education property taxes. Using two revenue streams provides stability for education funding. By provincial law, money collected through the education property tax can only be used to fund the public education system, which includes public and separate schools, but not independent schools.
Independent school funding comes from three sources: provincial general revenues, tuition or instruction fees paid by parents and private fundraising. Accredited independent schools are funded at 70 per cent of the base instruction operational funding for public and separate schools, and they do not receive capital funding or a number of differential grants such as Small Schools by Necessity. This is unchanged from 2018/19, and the funding split between independent schools and public schools will not change. Although independent school students make up about five per cent of Alberta students, only about four per cent of the education budget is allocated to independent schools.
It is important to note that some independent schools in the province provide programming for specific student needs. For example, Alberta has a number of Designated Special Education Private Schools, which specialize in serving students with significant physical and cognitive special needs.
Parents who choose home education have the option to collaborate with either an associate board or associate accredited funded independent school in their children’s home education program. The education programs for these students must be supervised by a certificated teacher working with an associate board or associate accredited funded independent school. Parents choosing home education have the primary responsibility for planning, managing, providing, evaluating and supervising their children’s courses of study. They must develop a home education program that enables the student to achieve appropriate learning outcomes and submit this program plan to the supervising school authority. To be eligible for high school credits, this program must be consistent with the student learning outcomes described in the provincial curriculum.
Alberta Education funds home Education at a rate of $1,670.81 per eligible funded student. An associate board or associate accredited funded independent school must offer to the parents of a home education student not less than 50 per cent of the home education funding amount for the purchase of instructional materials. Home education students in accredited funded independent schools are not eligible for severe disabilities funding.
Accredited funded independent schools are required to employ certificated teachers and must have a principal who is a certificated teacher and holds a leadership certificate. These professionals are eligible to apply for the associate membership with the Alberta Teachers’ Association. Accredited funded independent schools are also required to teach Alberta programs of study, use provincial achievement tests and diploma examinations, comply with provincial senior high school graduation requirements as described in the Guide to Education, and follow the requirements for teaching outlined in the provincial curriculum.
In order to be eligible for funding, the independent school operator is required to offer students in Grades 1 through 9 access to a minimum of 950 hours of instruction and offer students in Grades 10 through 12 access to a minimum of 1,000 hours of instruction. This is consistent with public schools.
In addition, funded independent schools must annually submit to the Minister a budget report and audited financial statements along with the auditor’s report, notes to the financial statements, a management letter and an independence letter.
Unlike public and separate schools, independent schools do not have resident students that they are legally required to accept. However, many independent schools do accept students with special needs and can access severe disability funding grants to support individual program costs and required services. Once an accredited funded independent school enrols a student, the government requires the independent school to provide appropriate education programming for that student for the school year in which that student is enrolled.
Parents in Alberta have the right to choose a independent school for their child. Government does not specify the amount of tuition that a independent school may charge for Grades 1 to 12. Independent schools may charge tuition either on a per-student basis or provide discounts for multiple children from one family. It is important to note that in order to receive funding from the government, accredited independent schools must be incorporated as a non-profit company or as a society.
The Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund (ATRF) administers the pension plan for all Alberta teachers in public schools. Additionally, ATRF administers the pension plan for Alberta independent school teachers who have elected to join the plan. If the independent school has applied to ATRF to participate in the independent school teachers' pension plan and if the application has been approved, all qualified teachers employed by the independent school must contribute to the plan.
Independent schools do not receive Alberta Education funding for school administration. These costs are covered by other non-government sources of revenue for the school—largely tuition, donations and fundraising provided by the parents and supporting community. There are no legislated or formal limits imposed on independent schools for administration costs. These costs are reported and reviewed annually by Alberta Education with the expectation that they are reasonable for a not-for-profit company or society.
Albertans have told us to trust local authorities to make the best decisions for their children. We respect the autonomy of school authorities to manage their resources, determine their own class sizes and make hiring decisions that reflect local priorities, while making the best use of public funds for students.
All certificated teachers in Alberta, including those in independent schools, are evaluated and held accountable to the provincial Teacher Quality Standard. The Teacher Growth, Supervision and Evaluation Policy requires all school authorities (including accredited independent schools), early childhood service operators, superintendents, principals and teachers to work together and develop and implement policy to ensure that all teachers practice consistently in keeping with the Teaching Quality Standard.
I assure you Albertans can be confident that this government is making thoughtful, prudent decisions to ensure all students continue to receive the education and supports they need.
I appreciate you taking the time to ask questions, and I trust the information I have provided is helpful.
Sincerely,
Adriana LaGrange
Minister of Education
cc: Pat Rehn
MLA, Lesser Slave Lake
