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Education & Advanced Education Policy
The Alberta Liberal Caucus believes that our schools are the cornerstone of the social, economic, and democratic structure of our province.
Our principles for Alberta’s K-12 public education system
- Each student must have the opportunity to reach his or her full potential
- A uniquely public education system must be protected and preserved for all Albertans
- The needs of local communities must be respected as they are the frontlines of Alberta’s education system
Supporting Students
Each student in Alberta deserves the opportunity to reach his or her full potential.
To make this principle a reality, the Alberta Liberals will do the following:
We will provide targeted, optional kindergarten programs for Alberta’s children. Early childhood education programs increase the likelihood of academic success in the years to come. We will implement the Learning Commission’s recommended class size guidelines, which are:
- Junior kindergarten to grade 3 - 17 students
- Grades 4 to 6 - 23 students
- Grades 7 to 9 - 25 students
- Grades 10 to 12 - 27 students
These small class sizes will facilitate learning and allow for greater individual attention to be given to each student.
- We will remove hunger as a barrier to learning by creating a province-wide school nutrition program, one that provides nutritious food to all students. We know from studies that poor nutrition is linked to a range of academic difficulties and health problems, and we’ll help fix that.
- We will proactively identify student learning difficulties by introducing diagnostic testing for grade 3 students; this testing will be used to uncover and correct education problems, rather than merely for statistical purposes, as is the current practice.
- We will ensure that Alberta’s education system is flexible enough to be able to fully support students with special-needs, gifted students, and students whose first language is not English.
- Using all options – including mentorship programs, apprenticeship programs, and specialized curriculum initiatives – we will boost high school completion rates among First Nations, Métis, and Inuit (FNMI) students.
- We will reinforce the importance of physical education, second languages, and the arts to a well-rounded curriculum that prepares Alberta’s students for the future.
Supporting Public Education
A strong public education system must be protected and preserved for all Albertans. To make this principle a reality, the Alberta Liberals will:
- Protect public education by reducing government funding for private schools, thereby ending the diversion of public dollars to private institutions that weakens and erodes the public education system.
- Ensure that new schools are built using entirely public dollars instead of investing public funds in risky, unproven public-private partnerships.
- Eliminate school fees and parental fundraising for classroom essentials by properly funding local school boards, no longer forcing parents to raise money to pay for basic public education.
- Enable the creation of a “community schools” program. Community schools will deliver local services such as childcare, after-school care, social services and health care all under one roof.
- Review the utilization formula for rural and urban schools to ensure that the needs of the community are taken into account when important decisions are made regarding school closures.
- Strive to reduce economic barriers to postsecondary education by examining government funding levels, tuition policy, and the availability of grants and loans with an eye to affordability and accessibility.
- Provide rebates to apprentices at Alberta’s technical institutes so that they can purchase needed tools, books, and supplies.
- Ensure students have access to affordable housing options through enhanced tenant protections for off-campus students and by supporting the growth of on-campus housing.
- Encourage quality teaching by creating Teaching Chairs for excellent professors. This program would ensure Albertan students get the very best teaching in the world, in much the same way that the federal Canada Research Chair program has stimulated innovative research.
- Develop a comprehensive research and innovation agenda to guide Alberta’s investments in new technologies and industries .
- Promote stability in the postsecondary system by providing institutions with three year funding envelopes to allow them to plan for the future.
Supporting Local Communities
Local communities are the frontlines of Alberta’s education system. To ensure that our schools are integrated into the life of the community, we will:
Advanced Education
A quality postsecondary education provides Albertans with the skills they need to succeed in an increasingly knowledge-based economy and society. Ground-breaking and innovative research will also be instrumental in diversifying our economy and raising our standard of living.
To ensure that our postsecondary education system is second-to-none, the Alberta Liberal Caucus would enact these polices:
Education & Advanced Education Responses & Questions
08 December 2011
Funding for Private Schools (December 7)
Mr. Chase: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Premier and the Minister of Education have both spoken in favour of eliminating provincial achievement tests.
01 December 2011
Elecricity Prices/Secular Public Education in Greater St. Albert (November 30)
Mr. Hehr: Mr. Speaker, just in time for Christmas Alberta citizens are seeing their power rates jacked up by 48 per cent.
29 November 2011
Funding for Private Schools (November 28)
Mr. Hehr: During her leadership campaign the Premier openly expressed concerns that the continued development of private and charter schools placed our public education system at risk of becoming a second-tier option.
24 November 2011
Funding for Private Schools (November 23)
Mr. Hehr: Mr. Speaker, this summer when the now Premier was stumping for her new position, she participated in an educational debate where she said the following: what I am quite concerned about right now is that we could very well see, with the continuing development of private and charter schools, the public system being a second-tier level of education, and that can’t happen.
23 November 2011
Postsecondary Education Funding (November 22, 2011)
Dr. Taft: Thanks, Mr. Speaker. During her leadership campaign the Premier promised new funding for postsecondary students.
23 November 2011
Secular Public Education in Greater St. Albert (November 22)
Mr. Hehr: Mr. Speaker, I was present at the Alberta School Boards meeting this morning and had the opportunity to listen to the Minister of Education’s comments.
13 October 2011
Stable funding, not political manoeuvring, the key to public education
Calgary – Official Opposition Education Critic Kent Hehr is thanking the premier for restoring over $100 million in education funding, but notes that the shortfall should never have occurred in the first place.
07 September 2011
Education hotline lets students, parents and teachers tell their stories
Call 1-888-886-2834 to help the Official Opposition restore funding for public education
Calgary – Alberta Liberal Education Critic Kent Hehr says that the Official Opposition is here to listen to students, parents and teachers struggling to deal with the funding shortfall that has resulted in hundreds of layoffs, larger class sizes and program cuts across Alberta’s public schools.
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Alberta Liberal Caucus Office
Reception
2nd Floor Legislature Annex,
9718 - 107 Street
Edmonton, Alberta T5K1E4
phone: 780.427.2292
fax: 780.427.3697
liberal.correspondence@assembly.ab.ca