Private schools advocate says ending funding would be ‘catastrophic’

By ZOE MASON on October 15, 2025.

zmason@medicinehatnews.com

The petition for the “Alberta Funds Public Schools” citizen initiative was issued Tuesday. Organizers can now start collecting signatures to try to advance their policy proposal seeking to end the allocation of public funds to private schools.

However, John Jagersma, executive director of the Association of Independent Schools and Colleges in Alberta, isn’t mincing words in his description of it.

“It would be catastrophic,” he said in an interview with the News on Tuesday. “I don’t think I’m being dramatic when I say that.

“There’s a lot of unintended consequences to this petition and a lot of context that’s missing.”

Private schools in Alberta receive 70 per cent of the per-student funding allocated for public schools. Half of Canada’s provinces allocate at least some level of funding to private schools.

Private schools in British Columbia are divided into two categories; group one schools get 50 per cent of the local public school operating grant per eligible student, and group two schools get 35 per cent. Private schools in Manitoba and Quebec receive 50 and 60 per cent, respectively.

Saskatchewan also has multiple categories for independent school funding. The highest allocations among these amount to 80 per cent of the per-student funding granted to public schools in the province.

In 2024, Alberta became the only province to fund the construction of private schools. Most provinces limit the allocation of public funds to operating costs and educational services.

Ontario and the Atlantic provinces do not provide any funding for private schools.

Jagersma says there are important differences between the provinces that justify the variations in funding.

“In Alberta, we’re all not-for-profit organizations that are operating schools. In Ontario, that’s not the case. They’re private businesses, he said. “They’re different contexts. The (Ontario) government doesn’t have the same degree of accountability and parents don’t have the same degree of assurance.”

Jagersma also says private early childhood service operators represent a valuable alternative for parents of children with special needs.

He says that approximately 40 per cent of students enrolled in private early childhood service operators receive Program Unit Funding to provide extra supports for children with disabilities or delays, including speech, behavioural and physical therapies. He says 20 independent schools across the province have a focus on special education.

Alicia Taylor, the Calgary chemistry teacher who launched the citizen initiate, says she believes all children’s needs should be able to be met from within the public system. Jagersma says that is just not feasible.

“Go talk to those parents, they’ll tell you they’ve tried and it doesn’t work,” he said.

The announcement of the petition has coincided with the ongoing teacher strike. Jagersma says he supports the public teachers’ demand for more money, but thinks re-directing that funding from private schools would undermine some of their other goals.

“The argument right now in the province around exactly these kinds of things, class sizes and classroom complexity – well, this would increase the number of kids that have to be in the same number of classrooms they have available now, and it would increase the complexity in that classroom,” he said.

Data shows that 48,000 children are enrolled in Alberta’s independent schools, with a further 23,000 in private early childhood service operators.

Jagersma says he believes the question should be framed around a parents right to choose.

“I think it’s really important that part of this be a rights-based argument. It’s not just about trusting the public system. Part of it is actually about, it’s not the public school’s decision to make. It’s really important that parents have a right to have access to the education that they choose for their children.”

Signature collection period opens Tuesday

Taylor has begun recruiting canvassers across the province. According to Elections Alberta guidelines, only registered canvassers may collect signatures on the petition.

Taylor says initial responses to her initiative have been overwhelmingly positive.

“Lots of people are reaching out, wondering how to sign, and I’m loving the enthusiasm,” she told the News last week.

In accordance with legislation updated in May, a successful petition requires 10 per cent of the total number of votes cast in the 2023 provincial election, meaning that in order for the citizen initiative to advance, the petition will need to gather 177,732 signatures.

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