Settler dementia support 🇵🇸

Strong public education isn’t optional — it’s essential. As the partner of a teacher who has spent decades in Alberta’s public system, I’ve watched what happens when classrooms are properly funded and staffed: kids from every background get a fair shot. I’ve also watched what happens when they aren’t. Over the past several years, Alberta’s public schools have faced rapid enrolment growth, chronic under-resourcing relative to other provinces, and incomplete recovery of educational assistants and support staff after the COVID-era cuts. Instead of fully addressing those pressures—building enough schools, restoring support staffing to pre-pandemic levels, and giving teachers the resources they need—the current government has expanded partial public funding for independent schools (including religious ones) and, for the first time, begun directing capital dollars toward them. Independent schools that receive the 70% operating grant must be non-profits and follow certain rules. But many also charge substantial tuition, can select their students, and are not required to publish their full audited financial statements the way public boards are. Some of the higher-end ones spend two or three times what nearby public schools spend per student—while still receiving public money. The result is a system in which public dollars help create options that are not equally available to every child. In 2025 the government used the notwithstanding clause to end a province-wide teachers’ strike and impose a contract after teachers had already rejected it. One year later, the Alberta Teachers’ Association continues to report overcrowded classrooms and insufficient supports. Meanwhile, total funding directed to independent schools has risen with enrolment, and a new capital program is sending public construction dollars to private and religious schools while many public schools still struggle with capacity. This isn’t about opposing choice. It’s about priorities. If public schools were adequately funded, staffed, and built to meet population growth, far fewer families would feel forced to look elsewhere. No child in Alberta or Canada should be sorted by their parents’ ability to pay tuition. Public education is the one system required to take every student. It should be the one we protect and invest in first. Strong public education isn’t optional. It’s essential. Protect and invest in it for every Albertan and Canadian. #SavePublicEducation #FightForAllAlbertans