A province-wide canvassing blitz took place over the weekend for a public education funding petition. The citizen-led campaign is pushing for a public referendum on education funding, specifically, whether taxpayer money should continue going to private schools. The proposed question was approved by Elections Alberta in early October. It reads, “Should the Government of Alberta end its current practice of allocating public funds to accredited independent (private) schools?” “While we are funding private schools at the highest rate in the country, we are also funding our public schools at the lowest rate, and that is a concern to myself and many of my volunteers,” said Alicia Taylor, the petition proponent, in an interview with CTV News. Organizers are about half way through the signature collection process, and have gathered just over 30,000 signatures. To succeed, its needs signatures from at least 10 per cent of the people who voted in the last provincial election, which means more than 177,000 Albertans. About five per cent, or $461 million, of the government’s K-12 education budget this year is set aside for private schools, which provincial law calls independent schools. The budget forecasts that number to jump to more than $500 million next year. In October, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said the Alberta government supports private schools and the choice to allocate funding to them, but if an eventual referendum passes, the government would act accordingly. If Elections Alberta confirms the signature goal was met, the petition will go to the speaker of the legislature. From there, MLAs will decide whether to create a new policy or send the questions back to Elections Alberta for a provincewide vote. Taylor has 64 days to reach the signature goal. A list of petition signing locations can be found here.
