Provincially-funded versus publicly-funded schools: what’s the difference, and why does it matter?

Public schools in Alberta have a rich, enduring history.

Before Alberta was a province, the first public school was established in 1881 in what was known at the time as the Hamlet of Edmonton.

According to the City of Edmonton archives, newly-arriving families in Edmonton “desperately needed” a “regular educational option”, as there wasn’t one conveniently located to serve the children of the area. At a public meeting, a new school system was envisioned and a board of trustees was elected. These trustees established the foundation of what is today Edmonton Public Schools.

From early days in Alberta, public schools were envisioned as the place where a free school was established. Education would be universally available to all students, and the cost of their education would be borne by the local community, through their taxes.

Public schools – and the public school system – have evolved substantially in Alberta over the past 140 years, but the foundational principles remain: a publicly-accessible system, available to all students, and paid for by the taxes of the local community. Within each public school jurisdiction, all students are welcome without question. In that inclusive environment various programs of choice are offered to meet the many diverse needs and wants of our students.

Public schools weren’t and aren’t the only type of K-12 education in Alberta. From early days, there have also been other schools and school systems, including faith-based, and today in Alberta, we have a significant amount of choice. Public schools don’t turn away students based on religious affiliation, ability, language spoken, their culture or where in the province they live.

So the word “public” is a very specific term of reference that is synonymous with schools that are free, open and accessible to all. Therefore, those of us who are school board trustees in the public school system today are very concerned about the trend in recent months to call all schools and various school systems “public”. They aren’t. They are, however, publicly or provincially-funded.

We prefer the term “provincially-funded” because it’s a clear and truthful reference to the fact that all schools and school systems – public, separate, francophone, charter, private and home school – are funded by provincial taxpayer dollars that are distributed by the Alberta government. We believe that any other term creates confusion as to what is truly “public”, which is the public school system – first and only, and not any other.

The Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta is truly committed to Students First, and to advancing the cause of public education in Alberta: free, open and accessible to all – as it was when it was first created back in the early 1880s and even more so today in 2020.

Let us know what you think.

Cathy Hogg,
President

PSBAA's AGM: More than just a business meeting!

Last Thursday was an inspiring, informative and productive day for the Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta (PSBAA) – it was the day we held our Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Our day began with Deborah Lloyd, an Elder with a long history with the Medicine Hat Public School Division and the Alberta Teachers’ Association, who brought a blessing for our deliberations.

Diana Bacon, a Professional Registered Parliamentarian, provided oversight for the business portion of our meeting.

Our AGM looked different this year due to the pandemic – we met virtually, rather than in-person – but we covered a lot of ground in a short few hours.

One of the business items that was approved was our 2021 budget.

Approval of our budget is really important. As a member-driven Association of public school board trustees, we carefully lay out a plan for the coming year to educate and advocate on behalf of public school boards and our trustees. We base the plan on what our members tell us they need and want from their Association.

But the plan is just that – a plan. It still requires the full debate and approval of the membership, to ensure we all agree on our most important priorities as an Association, before we move ahead. That debate and transparency is an important part of our democratic process, and every one of our member school boards has a voice.

As part of our AGM, we also proposed amendments to some of our Association’s bylaws. While most of these amendments were considered routine housekeeping items, there is one important change to note to Bylaw 5.1.  

This amendment, which was approved by our membership, changes the provisions for membership in PSBAA. We are now allowing Indigenous Education Authorities to join the Association if they agree with the values of public education, certify their teachers through the Alberta Teachers’ Association and teach the Alberta curriculum. Of particular note, we will also ensure these authorities are committed to inclusion. This is a very exciting development for our Association.

At our AGM, we also re-elected two members of our Executive Committee and elected four new members on our standing committees. We are also very pleased to welcome Nathan Ip, Trustee with Edmonton Public Schools (EPSB), as the EPSB’s appointed representative to PSBAA’s Executive Committee. We are looking forward to working with him. We are also pleased that Karen Becker, Second Vice President, and Nicole Buchanan, Second Director, were re-elected.

We were also glad to hear from Hon. Adriana LaGrange, the Minister of Education, who brought greetings on behalf of the government. While we were unable to ask her all the questions submitted by our members, we will be sending them to the Minister for a follow-up response.

AGM day wasn’t all work, though. Even though we met virtually, we took full advantage of the technology to give delegates an opportunity to network and socialize in virtual breakout rooms during the lunch break.

We also had a wonderful time celebrating our four 2020 PSBAA Special Recognition Award recipients. You can click on each of the links in the award names, below, to see videos of the well-deserved award presentations.

The Advancing Association Business & Initiatives award was presented to Elizabeth (Liz) Kohle, a locally-elected school board trustee with Sturgeon Public Schools. The Mustard Seed in Red Deer was this year’s recipient of the Special Contribution to Public Education Award for its school lunch program. The Special Contribution to Public Education – Media Award was presented to Robynne Henry, a reporter with the Bonnyville News / Nouvelle newspaper. And this year’s recipient of the Dick Baker Legacy Award is Shirley Caputo, a trustee with Grande Yellowhead Public School Division who has served her community for six terms. The Dick Baker Legacy Award is presented to a public school board trustee who, over the course of their career, has modelled integrity, compassion, mentoring, leadership and putting children first.

All in all, it was a great day, and we are looking forward to our work ahead together over the next nine months!

Cathy Hogg, President
Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta

Concerned about the expansion of charter schools in Alberta? You should be

Recently, the Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta called on the province’s Auditor General to conduct a to conduct a full review of the educational, administrative and financial benefits of charter schools.

The PSBAA has also released a discussion paper entitled Privatizing Public Choice: the past, present and future of charter schools in Alberta. The paper was written by Ph.D. candidate Curtis Riep and commissioned by PSBAA.

We released this discussion paper because we believe it’s time to have a serious discussion about the effectiveness of charter schools – given that they are funded by taxpayer dollars – and the fact that we believe they have not been nearly as effective as originally intended.

Historically, charter schools were designed to encourage learning innovation that could be developed in a charter school and transferred to the entire public system if successful. There was also a limit on the number of charter schools and the length of time they could operate – again, so that innovation could flourish.

However, the reality has been quite different. Charter schools have continued to operate over the long term – in some cases, like New Horizons school in Sherwood Park, taking over a former school property, and adding significantly to the overall administrative cost.

The government is looking at expanding the formation of charter schools for vocational training. We believe this unnecessarily duplicates the significant work of public schools that already provide trades education. In addition to the unnecessary duplication, this direction changes the original intent of why charter schools were formed.

PSBAA is concerned about the potential for a proliferation of charter schools for several other reasons.

One of the most important is that charter schools are not required to be governed by locally-elected public school trustees. As a result, they do not have the same level of direct accountability to the local communities in which they operate. We believe this level of accountability to the local community is what sets apart school trustees and is one of the key reasons our work is so important: we are closest to the people most impacted by the decisions we make, so we need to be connected to and listening to our constituents.

Charter schools can now establish themselves as a charter school system. They can apply directly to the Minister of Education to operate, bypassing the accountability of a local, publicly-elected school board, and have their academic and fiscal operations reviewed by department officials in Alberta Education. This adds to the red tape and administration costs to run yet another school system in Alberta, when there are already five other school administration systems, with their duplication of services – more than any other Canadian province.

Charter schools, despite the fact that they are publicly funded by our tax dollars, can refuse to admit any student who does not meet their entrance requirements, just like private schools. Because they operate more like a private school, charter schools do not guarantee additional parent and student choice in education.

It’s important to note that charter schools receive 100 per cent of the per-student funding that public school boards receive. Although public schools are not permitted to charge tuition fees, many charter schools do. In many cases, these fees help improve the teacher – student ratio in the classroom, an advantage our public schools do not have.

Further, charter schools are often located in space that is provided by school boards at reduced rates or no cost at all, and charter schools do not pay the standardized rates for their educators, based on the rates set out by the Alberta Teachers’ Association that are dependent on the experience and education of their teachers.

But we’ll leave the last word on this subject to the author of PSBAA’s discussion paper: Ph.D. candidate Curtis Riep.

“Efforts to expand charter schools in Alberta follow an American model that has largely resulted in systemic inefficiencies, inequities, and segregation,” said Riep. “They also raise the issue of a democratic deficit since these institutions receive public funding yet are privately managed. And, despite being sold on the idea they will increase parental choice, selection protocols and supplemental fees associated with attending charter schools represent impediments to real choice.”

If you’re concerned that charter schools are expanding to the detriment of public schools – and you should be – contact your local MLA and public school board to express your concerns.

For the full report or the media release, please go to the PSBAA website, and click on the PSBAA News, then News and Announcements page or go to: www.public-schools.ab.ca/news-announcements.

What is public school education, and why is it so important?

“Widespread public access to knowledge, like public education, is one of the pillars of our democracy, a guarantee that we can maintain a well-informed citizenry.”

Scott Turow – American author and lawyer

No one disagrees with the importance of a good education in setting up students well for the future, and the world of work.

The question is: what type of school will be the best to meet the needs of each individual student?

Here in Alberta, we have multiple systems including public, separate, francophone, (where multiple choices exist) and in addition, we also have charter, home school and private schools. All of these school choices are publicly-funded with the tax dollars you and I pay each year.

There is a vast world of difference between public schools and publicly-funded schools.

Of the different types of schools in Alberta, only public schools admit each and every student, regardless of background or ability. Other types of schools can pick and choose which students they want, and not admit others – yet all receive a share of the same tax dollars that you and I pay to the provincial government.

However, there are a significant number of advantages in choosing a public school and a public school education, no matter what age we’re living in.

The first advantage of public schools is diversity in Alberta public schools, with students from every socio-economic background, culture, language and ability. In his book, Keeping the Public in Public Education, former Globe and Mail reporter Rick Salutin wrote that public schools are a microcosm of society: “In public schools, the medium really is the message; the classroom is the curriculum.”

When our classrooms are working as they should be, each student learns not just to be “tolerant” or “accepting” of others – they learn to celebrate and welcome the differences of others.  

As a result, students in Alberta public schools also get a deep appreciation of the value and importance of good citizenship. While students in more selective schools learn social skills, they don’t necessarily have the same opportunity to learn how to negotiate and create understanding with others who have conflicting differences of opinion because the students all tend to have the same religious or other worldview, the same athletic or artistic talent.

Students in public schools learn other great life lessons – one of which is equality.

Because students in public schools are surrounded daily with other students from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, they are generally less judgmental and more inclusive of others.

But don’t take my word for it. Consider this statement from a 2017 article in the Huffington Post by Steven Singer, entitled “Top Ten Reasons Public Schools are the BEST Choice for Children, Parents and Communities”. Referring to a post from The Century Foundation on school integration in the U.S., Singer stated that, “The more diverse an environment they (students) grow up in, the more well-adjusted they will be for the adult world, and the less racist, sexist and prejudiced they’ll probably become.”

There are many other reasons to choose a public school education – one of which is affordability. For the most part, there is no tuition charge to attend a public school – unless you choose one of the many alternative programs within the public school system. Program choice is another wonderful advantage within the public school system: everything from religious, athletic and cultural programs to advanced instruction and special education.

Another advantage of public schools is proximity: most public schools are reasonably close to the students they serve and are accessible via school buses, as well as public transportation in urban settings.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the qualifications of the teachers are another great reason to choose public schools. All classes are taught with the Alberta curriculum and with highly-qualified, certified teachers who often possess more than one university degree.

Why are public schools – and all these great advantages – so important? They help our students to grow up to be good citizens, ready for the world of work and society, and to take over and lead Albertans into a great future.

These are just some of the many reasons I’m proud to be a locally-elected, public school board trustee, and just some of the reasons public schools are the BEST choice for children, parents and communities.

Back to school in the middle of a pandemic

“I believe this is the right first step,” said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, on August 27, 2020. Dr. Hinshaw was responding to a question asked at a recent news conference about what she thought of Alberta’s return to school plan, and whether school closures can be avoided if there are outbreaks of COVID-19.

There is no doubt that the safe return to school for hundreds of thousands of K-12 students in Alberta over the next couple of weeks is weighing heavily on the minds of many parents and their children. To help ease the concerns and inform parents many school jurisdictions have publicly released back-to-school plans. We trust that this has been much appreciated by our communities.

Parental responses run the gamut. Many have sent their children back to school hoping everything will be okay. Some parents are confident in their school board’s re-entry plan and believe the benefits of socialization and shared learning outweigh the risk of contracting COVID-19. Some parents are concerned about guaranteeing smaller class sizes to the extent that they are paying tens of thousands of dollars per child for the coming year, to enroll their child in a private school. Yet other parents are looking at home schooling / online options for their children.

At the outset, we welcomed back students, teachers, and staff to our schools. We have missed everyone, and there’s no substitute for in-person learning and growing together. We are also members of our communities, and many of us have children – or grandchildren – in the public school system. We have also heard the concerns, including physical distancing and capping of class sizes to ensure adequate distance between students, personal protective equipment like masks and face shields, and the necessary cleaning staff to ensure common spaces are as clean as possible.

Debating the merits of returning to in-person classes is a tough subject. There are no right or wrong answers after we all agree that our paramount concern is addressing the health and safety of our students, staff and communities.

In addition to the $10 million distributed to boards across the province by the Alberta government to assist in COVID-related expenses, we also welcomed the recent federal government release of nearly $2 billion dollars to help provinces and territories with school re-entry. In making the announcement, the federal government indicated that Alberta’s share of this funding is slightly more than $262 million and will be distributed according to the number of children aged four to 18 years old. We called upon the provincial government to distribute the funding on a per student basis to each of the 61 school jurisdictions across the province. There has been some concern that the funding has also been provided to private and charter schools.

The good news is that we are all in this together. Solutions may look different depending on where in the province you live, which is why so many school board re-entry plans look different.

So, as the only provincial association advocating solely on behalf of public schools in Alberta, we will continue to work with the Alberta government to make our concerns known.

One last and very important note: parents in public school jurisdictions across Alberta need to know they must register their child(ren) for the coming school year in their local division, even if they plan to home school or make alternative arrangements. This is because the new funding formula is based on a three-year timeline. Failure to register them this year could impact funding for the following two years. This is something we brought up to the Minister and asked for the government to exempt the COVID years from the funding model. They are now considering this. I can also confidently state that every public school board will be more than happy to work with any parent to accommodate them and their children in whatever learning approach works for the coming year – whether it’s in-person, directed or online learning, or homeschooling.

Your public school board trustees are fully committed to making this a great school year. So, on behalf of the members of PSBAA, I say, “Welcome back, everyone! We have missed you, and we are so happy to see you!” Stay well.

PSBAA President's Year-End Blog 2020

As June winds down and we get closer to the official start of summer break, I want to take a look back at this unprecedented year, especially the past three months.

Prior to COVID-19 was challenging enough in terms of changes for boards across the province with the tightening of budgets. Ultimately this resulted in fewer resources while we continue to meet the needs of the students in our inclusive education system, of which we are so proud. Those challenges continue, but of one thing I am certain: we will always focus on putting children first. Significant adjustments in how to meet this priority were required and we appreciate the creativity of our administrators in meeting this need. It is important to also recognize the trustees who give the oversight to our administrators to carry out this work. We are the ones accountable to our communities and to the Minister of Education. This is a significant responsibility that we all take very seriously.

Then came COVID-19. From our students and their families to our administrators, teachers, bus drivers, support staff, there was a coming together that centered around making sure our students continue to have access to learning. The words that can be attributed to the many efforts made to reach our end goal are too numerous to mention, so I will simply say congratulations and thank you.

In addition to missing the human connection that being in the classroom provides, some other big misses are front of mind. Normally, we would be congratulating all graduating students in person, and wishing them well in their future endeavours. We would have fêted them in a special graduation ceremony followed by some festivities where the graduates, resplendent in their formal attire, would have proudly posed for photos with families and friends from over the years. A momentous and memorable occasion indeed, and one of my favourite times of the year. With restrictions being lifted to some extent we have seen communities coming together to celebrate, in a variety of ways, the grade 12 graduates and the celebration of grade 9 students also transitioning to high school. These celebrations have been heartwarming and speak to the significance of these milestones in the minds and hearts of our communities throughout the province. Whether or not this year was your graduating year, congratulations to you and to every student who worked so hard this year, especially over the past three months. You have earned every bit of your academic success this year.

We would also be personally wishing all our returning students well and hoping they enjoy a well-deserved summer break. We would be thanking our teachers, administrators, bus drivers, librarians, and custodians for all their hard work and dedication. We would be talking about their summer plans – often for a road trip to camp or to visit relatives and friends. And those of us who are publicly-elected school board trustees would be looking forward to some rest and relaxation ourselves. We would have had formal gatherings for our teachers and staff who are retiring. An opportunity to thank and celebrate them for their years of dedicated service to our divisions and communities.

As we all know, the past three months have been anything but normal. However, the response by our staff and students, families and communities has been exceptional.

When classes were first suspended in mid-March, I wrote about how the strength of our school communities was going to be critical in sustaining our students and families in the months to come. I am even more convinced of this than ever. We do not yet know what school will look like in the fall, but I do know this: our teachers and administrators, students and families have grown this year in unique and special ways. Going forward, it will be more important than ever to remain committed to being inclusive, welcoming and compassionate, being mindful of each other and making every effort to demonstrate that we are truly in this together.

Regardless of whether we are able to welcome students back to school in person in September – and I dearly hope we can – I know that we all appreciate each other and our special qualities more than ever before. What a wonderful and joyous reunion it will be in each of our schools when we are all together again.

In the meantime, I wish you and yours a most enjoyable summer. Stay healthy!

Let’s not further fragment K-12 education in Alberta – We have enough choice!

The Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta has a long history as passionate defenders of equity and inclusivity for all children, and we are staunch advocates of the many merits of the public education system in Alberta.

First and foremost, we have always been motivated by the principle of Children First. In practice this means that, as locally-elected school board trustees, we always consider the needs of the child and student first, to ensure that every decision we make is in the best interests of the student and their future.

We believe this is the fundamental purpose of local school board trustees: to be the best possible stewards of the education dollars the province allocates to each of our jurisdictions, and to ensure to that every dollar invested in K-12 education goes as far as possible.

PSBAA is proudly non-partisan, and we are passionate about being locally elected, because we are closest to the students, families and communities we serve. We see the challenges and successes in local publicly-funded education, and we are in the best position to make education decisions on behalf of students that will benefit them the most.

We also believe passionately in education choice, and that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work in every community. That’s also why it’s critical that we have local school board trustees, rather than department administrators in Edmonton, making choices about how education needs are met in each community.

However, we also recognize that, the more education administration systems we have in the province, the more education dollars are being diverted from the classroom. This is because each of these systems – whether public, separate, francophone or charter – all require their own separate administration teams to run each of these systems. Not only is there duplication in administration, there is duplication in busing, bricks-and-mortar buildings and maintenance.

Between the three main publicly-funded systems – public, separate and francophone – we believe there is enough choice already without further splintering limited education dollars to pay for still more systems. We are concerned that if the Alberta government expands the availability of private and charter schools, the existing publicly-funded education systems will receive less overall funding – or be forced to compete with each other for the same students rather than work cooperatively together for the benefit of all students and families. Fragmenting an already strained system does not lead to more student choice, but collaboration and cooperation most certainly can. Regardless of where the expansion is occurring – whether it is in the large metro or urban areas or rural Alberta, budgets across the province will be affected.

For instance, many public school jurisdictions across the province have a wide range of alternative programming options and schools from faith-based to the arts, STEM-focused education and sports programs, there is something for everyone. Add in the choice that comes with a separate or francophone education and K-12 students in Alberta are already exceptionally well-served.

The PSBAA believes that the Choice in Education Act needs to ensure equity of opportunity for all students. No school or system should be allowed to receive public dollars – collected from all Alberta taxpayers – and then be permitted to pick and choose which students to accept and which ones to turn away. Every student who wants to learn must have the opportunity to do so, in an inclusive and welcoming a school environment as possible. This is the principle of Children First in action.

Public, separate and francophone school systems should have the opportunity to – and should be strongly encouraged to – collaborate and cooperate more with each other and our community partners. Following up on the MacKinnon Report, we believe that Alberta Education will need to clearly specify what those incentives – and expectations – are, to ensure everyone is collaborating and cooperating for the benefit of all students.

All three systems also have locally-elected governors and are accountable to the province for the public funding they oversee and the decisions they make. We believe schools and systems should not receive public funding if they are not willing to have publicly-elected and independent governors and be accountable to the province for the dollars they spend.

Our belief is that local school boards must provide oversight to and have regular communication with all children being home-schooled. This will allow the school board the ability to ensure that students are making satisfactory academic progress and student needs for any community supports, resources or intervention are accommodated.

The recent provincial government survey bears out our contention that parents and families believe we have enough choice in education already, without adding more. More than 61 per cent of respondents were somewhat or very satisfied with the current choices in education being offered within Alberta. Less than 17 per cent of respondents reported being dissatisfied with the amount of choice currently available in the education system.

This is an important issue, and one that school jurisdictions will be discussing in detail in the months to come. We are looking forward to working with all of our education partners for the benefit of our students, families and communities. They deserve nothing less.

A different kind of Spring General Assembly

This weekend marks what would normally be the Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta’s Spring General Assembly (SGA). 

In a “normal” spring, we and our trustee colleagues from across the province would be meeting in Red Deer for a day and a half of business meetings, professional development and networking – all planned to help us further advance our skills as publicly-elected school board trustees. 

As we know, this spring is far from normal, so trustees are meeting via videoconference for a half-day of professional development and learning. We are grateful, though, for advances in technology and the opportunity they give us to discuss issues of importance to public school boards. 

One of the things we will be talking about is how to set up our K-12 public school students for success when classes resume – whenever that may be. We applaud the resiliency in each of our public school jurisdictions. We are so proud of all our administrators and staff, students and families, for their determination to carry on and make the most of this most unusual school year. Graduations, tests and exams have been held virtually, postponed or cancelled. We all know a lot of people who have been affected in one way or another since K-12 classes were cancelled back in mid-March. 

At that time, I wrote in this space about the importance of community during uncertain times. I also said that I knew our amazing education community would lead the way in building community and positive social interaction. 

I also said that, even more important than our students’ formal education are the life lessons they learn in challenging times: lessons like optimism, resiliency, adaptability, perseverance and community-building. As public school board trustees, educators and leaders in our school system, we can model positive, resilient attitudes – being open to change and embracing opportunity, even in the midst of uncertainty. 

So, with the strong possibility of further uncertainty and changes to come, we are doing that – modelling positive, resilient attitudes and being open to change and opportunity. More change could be on the way with proposed revisions to the current Education Act that are contained in the Choice in Education Act legislation introduced in the Alberta Legislature yesterday. Changes to curriculum and a new funding formula are also on the horizon. 

Additional change could be possible with the final outcome of the Theodore case appeal, depending on whether it is appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Although this case is about school funding legislation in Saskatchewan, it has implications for Alberta’s public and separate school boards, because our provincial education systems are so similar. 

These are challenges, but I know we will rise to them to find the solutions and pathways forward that will always put Children First.  This is a principle that we within the PSBAA strongly support. We will strive to find ways to work collaboratively for the benefit of our students. An example of the effort by all is the Student Transportation Task Force, and we look forward to more collaborative efforts in the months to come. The academic success of all students can only be achieved through equity of learning opportunities, which also requires collaborative efforts. Our continued dedication and resolve will ensure the job gets done to the very best of our ability. Our students deserve nothing less.