The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Subsidies to private schools would better serve public system

Part of a Progress Alberta campaign calling on the government to defund elite private schools, this commentary is adapted from an article that appears on Progress Alberta’s website at www.progressalberta.ca.

Six new schools, 116 new playgrounds or 290 new teachers.

That’s what Alberta’s public education system could be gaining every year if the province decided to stop providing subsidies totalling $29.1 million a year to the 17 most elite private schools — each of which also charge more than $10,000 in tuition per student.

“We’re wasting money on subsidizing a private choice,” said Joel French, executive director of Public Interest Alberta, in an interview with Progress Alberta. “We don’t do that in other areas. If somebody doesn’t want to use a public library, we don’t write them a cheque from the government to go buy a book.”

These highly exclusionary elite private schools are all located in or near Calgary, and include Strathcona-Tweedsmuir (tuition up to $22,285/year), Webber Academy ($18,800/year), Rundle College (up to $17,625/year), the Edge School for Athletes (up to $18,270/year) and West Island College ($16,120/year).

And those annual tuition rates don’t even include enrolment deposits, one-time payments required for acceptance at some schools, which range from $6,000 at Webber Academy and $7,000 at West Island College (made up of a $3,500 “family membership” and $3,500 “capital improvement fee”) to a $1,500 “family initiation fee” at Calgary Waldorf School.

These elite private schools are inaccessible to the vast majority of Alberta parents, yet the government continues to fund them at a per-student rate of 70 per cent compared to public, separate and francophone students — making it the most heavily subsidized private school system in the country.

“Part of the problem is that as the private school sector grows, then parents become even more unwilling to pay taxes because they say they’re ‘doing us a favour’ and ‘why don’t we do them a favour and lower their taxes?’” said Trevor Harrison, professor of sociology at the University of Lethbridge in an interview with Progress Alberta.

“It’s hard to know where the plateau level is, but at some point the balance of power shifts so much that suddenly the public system just doesn't have enough funding. That’s the really dangerous point.”

Class sizes in Alberta’s public, separate and francophone schools continue to bulge well past recommended guidelines.

That is especially the case for kindergarten to Grade 3 classes. The 2003 report by Alberta’s Commission on Learning that set the class size guidelines still used today recommended, on average, 17 students in each K–3 class. Yet Calgary’s Catholic school district has an average K–3 class size of 21.4 students, and Edmonton Public’s is even worse: 22.2 students per class.

Higher grade levels often don’t fare any better. Wetaskiwin Regional Division has an average of 25.4 students in Grade 4 to 6 classes — that number should be kept at or below 23, according to the guidelines. Calgary’s public high schools have 29.1 students per class, well over the advised mark of 27.

The report by Alberta’s Commission on Learning emphasized that the numbers were guidelines, not fixed metrics. But it also wrote that it “feels strongly that province-wide class size guidelines are critical for the early grades,” noting that reducing class sizes for K–3 classrooms has discernible academic benefits, especially for poor and minority children. Furthermore, it reported that inadequate funding and class size were the two most serious concerns voiced by Albertans during the commission’s consultations.

These are issues that have only been exacerbated in recent years, as inflation and population growth have eaten away at existing funding frameworks. Between 2009 and 2017, the population of students in Alberta increased by 16 per cent, but the number of teachers grew by only seven per cent. Recent investments by the Alberta government have helped—but more is needed.

There’s one very obvious way to help fix this: redirect the $27.4 million that is currently subsidizing elite private schools into the public system, which would help to fund new schools, teachers and classrooms for regular Alberta kids.

This would play a significant role in ensuring that children from all socio-economic backgrounds have the same opportunities to learn in classrooms with recommended sizes and opportunities to interact with teachers and support staff. ❚