New Schools ASAP?

In case you missed it, the Province recently announced a new school construction initiative with an eye-popping price of $8.6 billion.

They are calling it the Alberta School Construction Accelerator Program (ASCAP).

We’ve been busy with our back-to-school tour and directly advocating for what we’ve heard from you, but here are our initial takeaways from this announcement:

It’s a Big Number

The last time the Government of Alberta announced nearly this much in a new spending initiative was in 2008.

Then-Premier Ed Stelmach announced $4 billion for carbon capture and storage, as well as transit projects he branded as “Green Trip”.

An initiative on the scale of ASCAP is necessary to address the unprecedented growth in Alberta’s student population, but we will be keeping a close eye on this spending.

The 150,000 new student seats promised by the 2030-31 school year must manifest as real seats for real students instead of being wasted on governmental inefficiencies.

End of the Weighted Moving Average?

As a reminder, the Weighted Moving Average is the Province’s current funding model, in which the money only fully follows the child to a new school after 3 years.

We recently wrote about how this undermines the principle of choice in education and is at the root of the current crisis - growing school authorities are not seeing the funding to match their growth quickly enough.

We received positive feedback from you and began advocating specifically to see that policy changed.

In her press conference, Premier Danielle Smith indicated that she agreed that the Weighted Moving Average was not working.

She said Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides is in discussions with the Treasury Board to end it.

We will make it clear that parents expect Budget 2025 to return to the principle that the money should follow the child and that the best incentives flow from there.

Removing Unnecessary Delays

New school builds have always been divided into three phases: planning, design, and construction.

Previously, no matter when a school authority completed all the work of one of the first two phases, they would not be approved to begin the next phase until the next year’s provincial budget.

This meant a new school build first approved in Budget 2024 could not have possibly begun construction until after Budget 2026, at the earliest.

The Province is keen to see shovels in the ground more quickly, so they will now approve the next phase as soon as the requirements of the previous phase are completed.

Provincial Ownership

The Province claims this initiative would not be possible without Bill 13 in March - allowing for provincial ownership of these projects, instead of the capital assets belonging to the school boards.

Because the Province is able to borrow on more favourable terms than school boards ever could, this kind of rapid expansion is now an option.

The Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta opposed Bill 13, while the Alberta Parents’ Union supported it.

We landed on different sides of this issue for the same reason: provincial ownership makes it easier for a school in competition with a local school board to take possession of an empty school.

We oppose any barriers to kids being educated by the school their parents choose.

Supporting Choice in Education

Speaking of which, one more of those barriers is being removed.

The Charter School Accelerator Program will add 12,500 new seats for students in charter schools by the 2027-28 school year.

That’s about half of the total number of students languishing on waiting lists after their parents have chosen a charter school.

The Province is also accepting offers from not-for-profit private schools to partner with them to build new schools.

All of this building will help all Alberta students, not just those attending charter schools, because helping more students attend a charter school also takes pressure off any overcrowded public schools.

But the Alberta Federation of Labour, the Alberta Teachers’ Association, and their allies called - not just for charter and not-for-profit private schools to not receive this construction funding - but for the government to defund them altogether!

Remember that these schools deliver, on average, better outcomes for less money than public, separate, and francophone school boards receive.

They do not, in Alberta, serve an elite - public schools actually have a higher family income, on average.

Charter schools can’t even reject “undesirable” students or teach religion, no matter how many times the labour unions and their allies lie and say they can.

The reason labour unions and their allies (including some that pose as parents’ organizations) actually oppose charter and private schools is that the teachers at those schools aren't forced to belong to the Alberta Teachers’ Association.

So, more charter schools mean less money for the unions from union dues.

Preserving their public employee union monopolies is more important to them than even the overcrowding they constantly trumpet as the #1 problem they demand to be solved.

Kids in smaller classes taught by non-union teachers, and the less jammed hallways being swept by non-union custodial staff, was not what they had in mind.

As we said, these are just our initial takeaways, and we’d love to hear yours.

We would also love it if you would join our efforts directly.

When you join the Alberta Parents’ Union, even a nominal monthly amount of support from you each month adds up, as we make sure every dollar goes to work in lifting up the voice of Alberta parents!

We mentioned union organizations - whose primary interest in the education system is as a jobs program for adults - have been opposing any attempt to add seats outside the public employee union monopoly.

With enough parents, grandparents, and taxpayers as monthly members, we can be a strong counterweight to their messaging as a voice that focuses on the kids the education system is meant to educate.

Accelerating Your Message,

Jeff and the Alberta Parents’ Union Team