Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's plan to spend billions of dollars to fast-track school building across the province will come alongside a new construction funding program for private schools.Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press
Alberta was among the first Canadian provinces to provide public funding to private schools nearly six decades ago. Last week, the province took it one step further, becoming the first province to say it would help fund the construction of private educational institutions.
Premier Danielle Smith and her United Conservative Party government have yet to release specifics of the funding parameters as they chart unknown waters to “incentivize investment” by non-profit private schools to create thousands of student spaces. No other province in Canada has committed capital funds for this purpose.
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.
The program has reignited debate on public-versus-private education with public school supporters arguing that the pilot will siphon funds away from an already overwhelmed public education system.
Darryl Hunter, an associate professor in the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Education, said the impact will be better understood once it is clear how much money will be allocated to independent schools and whether it is proportional to current student numbers. If it is, then he said not much will change.
But, Dr. Hunter said, “if the money is substantially more than 5 to 7 per cent to independent schools and sprinkled across a large number of rural communities for small faith-based facilities, such as elementary schools, it will embolden the evangelical Christian right and shore up the UCP’s rural constituencies in Alberta.”
The province has long been a champion of parent choice in education having provided financial support to eligible private schools since 1967. The UCP further committed to being a school-choice champion in 2020 when it safeguarded the right to choose in the Choice in Education Act. The legislation formally recognized private schools as an important choice.
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Derek Allison, a professor emeritus in the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Ontario, said some parents opt for private education because they align with the values of a specific school or the school has programming that’s helpful to their children’s specific needs.
He said it is a “rubbish” argument that funding for private schools will impact the public system. “The public system is so big and so well-supported, so well-funded, it’s not going to be harmed by the really relative small proportion of kids that end up in independent schools,” he said. “The more choice, the better.”
There were nearly 45,500 students enrolled in private schools in Alberta in the 2023/24 school years, according to the provincial government, which represents about 5.7 per cent of the student population (not including home-schooled pupils).
Dr. Hunter, however, said a common concern among educators is accessibility to and accountability of private institutions, in addition to concerns that some of these schools lack diversity among the student population.
Alberta funds accredited private schools at one of the highest operational rates in Canada at 70 per cent of what students in public schools receive. To qualify for funding, these schools must employ certified teachers, instruct on the province’s programs of study and have a principal who is a certified teacher. Heritage language schools and special education private schools are also funded.
Catholic and not-for-profit charter schools in Alberta receive full funding, although in other provinces and territories these schools may only be eligible for partial funding. In some jurisdictions, they receive no government funding.
Alberta is an outlier in its plans to fund private school construction but is not the only province in the country to provide funding to private schools. British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Quebec do so at varied levels and also require independent schools to meet certain conditions to be eligible for funding.
In Saskatchewan, private schools must enroll a minimum of 150 students annually and have been in operation for at least five consecutive years, in addition to a number of other requirements, to be designated a certified independent school. Those schools then qualify for funding of 75 per cent of the provincial per-student average.
Independent schools in B.C. receive funding at either 50 per cent or 35 per cent of the rate for public schools depending on the operational cost for each student. All schools must be run by a non-profit to qualify for funding and must provides programs that meet the learning outcomes of the provincial curriculum.
Government subsidies in Quebec amount to about 40 per cent of the total cost to put a student through independent schools, while Manitoba provides private schools with 50 per cent of public school net operating dollars, in addition to $60 per eligible pupil to cover curricular materials.