Education property taxes set to increase in spring notice

By Lethbridge Herald on April 17, 2025.

Some Lethbridge homeowners might be surprised to see an almost 14 per cent increase in their education taxes when they get their property tax bill this spring.
According to the Government of Alberta website, education property taxes are increasing for 2025-2026 after being frozen in 2024-2025. For Lethbridge residents, this will amount to a 13.8 per cent increase.
The City of Lethbridge will be sending property tax notices next month and within that notice will be an updated brochure breaking down the additional taxes (beyond the Municipal portion), which includes collecting the Alberta Education Tax.
In a statement provided by the city, it says that the City of Lethbridge collects taxes on behalf of the Government of Alberta and the Green Acres Foundation.
“This is not additional City revenue. The City’s role is strictly billing and collection, with no control over their budgets, allocations or operations.”
It also explains that of each $1 on your property tax bill, 75 cents are for the City Operating Budget, 24 cents is for Alberta Education and one cent is for Green Acres Foundation.
Education tax supports the public and separate school boards. The Government of Alberta determines budget and amount of education tax each municipality in Alberta will pay.
“For 2025, the requisition percentage change for the education tax is up 13.8 per cent. In 2024, it was up 6.1 per cent, and for 2023, it was up 3.2 per cent.”
This 13.8 per cent increase in 2025 contributes to equitable funding for K-12 education in the city. The provincial education requisition also plays a key role in supporting the city’s growing student population.
All property owners in Lethbridge, residential and non-residential, are required to pay education property taxes including those without children in school and senior citizens.
Provincially, the education property tax rates will increase to $2.72 per $1,000 of equalized assessment for residential/farmland properties and $4 per $1,000 of equalized assessment for non-residential properties in 2025-26 across the province.
“The higher rates, along with rising property values and increased development, are expected to raise the education property tax requisition from $2.7 billion in 2024-25 to $3.1 billion in 2025-26,” as stated in the government’s website.
The website also states that the share of education operating costs funded by the education property tax will increase to 31.6 per cent in 2025-26, following historic lows of about 28 per cent in 2023-24 and 29.5 per cent in 2024-25. This will enhance Alberta’s ability to fund school operations, leading to better educational outcomes as student enrolment continues to grow.
Under provincial law, government can only use money collected through the education property tax to fund the public education system, which includes public and separate schools. Private school funding comes from three sources: provincial general revenues, tuition or instruction fees paid by parents and private fundraising.
“The Constitution of Canada guarantees Protestant and Roman Catholic citizens’ minority rights to a separate education system. In communities where there are separate school jurisdictions, property owners must declare support for one school jurisdiction or another to determine where education property tax dollars should be directed.”

2
-1