Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Flames0910]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

New petition coming out

New Citizen Initiative Application Approved, Notice of Initiative Petition Issued

https://www.elections.ab.ca/new-citi...tition-issued/

oh my god. so good.

Subject: Alberta Funds Public Schools

Proposed Question: Should the Government of Alberta end its current practice of allocating public funds to accredited independent (private) schools?

[MacDaddy77]

Someone please update where and when they are getting signatures. I will for sure support the yes to end private support vote on this.

[MrButtons]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

Someone please update where and when they are getting signatures. I will for sure support the yes to end private support vote on this.

not the right link. Disregard.

[CactusJack]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

New petition coming out

New Citizen Initiative Application Approved, Notice of Initiative Petition Issued

https://www.elections.ab.ca/new-citi...tition-issued/

I think every teacher in Alberta will be collecting signatures for this. Shouldn’t take long!

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

New petition coming out

New Citizen Initiative Application Approved, Notice of Initiative Petition Issued

https://www.elections.ab.ca/new-citi...tition-issued/

Smith won't like that one so I'll happily sign.

[corporatejay]

Genuine question, how is this better for the public education system? Where is the extra 30% per student going to come from for private school students returning to public education? What about capex for facilities and other operational costs that come with having an influx of new students in the public system?

[CactusJack]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Genuine question, how is this better for the public education system? Where is the extra 30% per student going to come from for private school students returning to public education? What about capex for facilities and other operational costs that come with having an influx of new students in the public system?

Private schools were already operating and doing just fine before the UCP started funding them.

[Geraldsh]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Genuine question, how is this better for the public education system? Where is the extra 30% per student going to come from for private school students returning to public education? What about capex for facilities and other operational costs that come with having an influx of new students in the public system?

The physical infrastructure should remain in place with the students in their desks. BUT, under the public school banner and the funding changes that will entail.

[MacDaddy77]

Originally Posted by MrButtons

This might be a useful tool https://www.forever-canadian.ca/sign-the-petition

Wrong petition, is there the same thing with locations for the school petition?

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Geraldsh

The physical infrastructure should remain in place with the students in their desks. BUT, under the public school banner and the funding changes that will entail.

So your plan would be for the government to expropriate the existing private schools (and pay off the non profits that own those buikdings) and then increase the funding those students receive to the full amount they give to public schools vs the lower amount private schools get?

And you're thinking this will save money?

[MrButtons]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

Wrong petition, is there the same thing with locations for the school petition?

Yikes, not used to tracking so many petitions. Reading was never my strong suit. I doubt that we'll find it right now cause it was just approved, but I'll keep my eyes peeled and share if I find anything. Thanks for clarifying I'll remove the link on my post to avoid confusion.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Genuine question, how is this better for the public education system? Where is the extra 30% per student going to come from for private school students returning to public education? What about capex for facilities and other operational costs that come with having an influx of new students in the public system?

I mean it's definitely not. You'll get a bunch of student's back into the public system when they can no longer afford the tuition. And it probably won't be the uber-rich ones. It'll probably be my friends who are struggling financially to send their kid with severe dyslexia to a private school. No way they can afford to pay another 6-8k per year for that, so he would have to go back to public school.

The government would pay the higher $/year amount, and he'd get shovevd in a regular classroom (or more likely a hallway because there is no more classroom space).

Maybe the money the government saves on the kids who stay private offsets the cost of the influx to the public system from an operating cost point of view, but it definitely doesn't magically build more schools.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by CactusJack

Private schools were already operating and doing just fine before the UCP started funding them.

The government of alberta has been funding private schools since 1967 and funded up to 60% until 2024 when it got bumped to 70%.

is your qualm with the increase by 10%, or the concept entirely because it predates the UCP.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

What about capex for facilities and other operational costs that come with having an influx of new students in the public system?

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/cana...on-of-private/


The $8.6B in public funding for private capital could presumably shift over to public schools.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Roughneck

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/cana...on-of-private/


The $8.6B in public funding for private capital could presumably shift over to public schools.

Ms. Smith, who announced $8.6-billion in capital funding to accelerate the construction of new schools last Tuesday, said allowing private schools to apply for some of that funding through a new pilot project supports parent choice. She said an “all hands on deck” approach is necessary to deal with enrolment pressures driven by significant population growth.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Ms. Smith, who announced $8.6-billion in capital funding to accelerate the construction of new schools last Tuesday, said allowing private schools to apply for some of that funding through a new pilot project supports parent choice. She said an “all hands on deck” approach is necessary to deal with enrolment pressures driven by significant population growth.

Thank you... The way that post was written implied that $8.6B was earmarked exclusively for private capital projects. Jesus. The public system may be in even worse shape than I thought.

For further clarification, I believe any funding allocated to private schools is also capped at $3mm and requires the school to have matching funds in place.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Ms. Smith, who announced $8.6-billion in capital funding to accelerate the construction of new schools last Tuesday, said allowing private schools to apply for some of that funding through a new pilot project supports parent choice. She said an “all hands on deck” approach is necessary to deal with enrolment pressures driven by significant population growth.

Wealthy parents have choice, they don't need me to pay for it.

"driven by a complete lack of planning and decades of underfunding."

Pretending privatization is the way out of the problems they created is just the government pushing their own privatization priorities. You know, the #### she's been blabbing about on the radio for a decade. Why people allow themselves to be tricked into thinking they have the public interest at heart will never make sense to me.

[CactusJack]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

The government of alberta has been funding private schools since 1967 and funded up to 60% until 2024 when it got bumped to 70%.

is your qualm with the increase by 10%, or the concept entirely because it predates the UCP.

My qualm is with both the increase and the concept. When did the 60% come into effect? I remember it being capped at 25% by Klein in the early 2000’s and still thought that was too much as I don’t believe any public dollars should be going to private schools at all, I’ve always been against it. I’m going to assume the bump up to 60% came from Kenney (UCP) but stand to be corrected. If it was indeed under Kenney that’s 45% increase under the UCP not 10% and is slated to keep going up. Public education funding has been essentially frozen over the same time period.

Alberta spends the most in Canada (by a lot) on private education and the least in Canada (by a lot) on public education. Call me crazy but I’d much rather see public dollars spent on public services than private businesses. This government seems to have nothing to spend on public services but an unlimited amount to spend on private businesses and is led by somebody who’s been clamouring for the destruction of the public education system for decades. A strong public education system benefits every other segment of society from the economy to health to crime and addictions. Chronic underfunding and destruction is incredibly stupid and short sighted and will only lead to much higher costs for society. If we don’t have the money to properly fund public schools there should not be a single penny going towards private schools.

[CFO]

I guess all education is important. Only those by public side. What a dirty move.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by CactusJack

My qualm is with both the increase and the concept. When did the 60% come into effect? I remember it being capped at 25% by Klein in the early 2000’s and still thought that was too much as I don’t believe any public dollars should be going to private schools at all, I’ve always been against it. I’m going to assume the bump up to 60% came from Kenney (UCP) but stand to be corrected. If it was indeed under Kenney that’s 45% increase under the UCP not 10% and is slated to keep going up. Public education funding has been essentially frozen over the same time period.

Alberta spends the most in Canada (by a lot) on private education and the least in Canada (by a lot) on public education. Call me crazy but I’d much rather see public dollars spent on public services than private businesses. This government seems to have nothing to spend on public services but an unlimited amount to spend on private businesses and is led by somebody who’s been clamouring for the destruction of the public education system for decades. A strong public education system benefits every other segment of society from the economy to health to crime and addictions. Chronic underfunding and destruction is incredibly stupid and short sighted and will only lead to much higher costs for society. If we don’t have the money to properly fund public schools there should not be a single penny going towards private schools.

Funding increases were 1998 to 60% and 2008 to 70%.