The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Some 500 delegates attended the Wildrose Party’s annual general meeting October 25–26 in Red Deer. One of the purposes of the meeting was, in the words of Wildrose leader Danielle Smith, “to create a policy book which will form the basis of the next election campaign.”

To that end, delegates adopted policy committing a Wildrose government to

• eliminate mandatory school fees in the public, separate and public charter school systems.
• protect parents’ right to choose what school their child attends, whether it be public, separate, public charter, private or homeschooling.
• strengthen and protect the current provincial funding model that sends per-student operational and maintenance funding directly to each locally elected school board or charter school and better account for the fixed costs of schools in smaller rural communities.
• uphold the current provincial funding model for private schools that allows a portion of per-student funding to follow students to the school of their choice.
• lift the freeze on new public, nonprofit charter schools, allowing teachers, parents, special needs workers and other educational experts to offer new and innovative curriculum and programs for students. Such schools must be open to all students and may not charge tuition.
• ensure that Alberta’s First Nations children have access to the resources and supports available to all Alberta children. Jurisdictional disputes between Alberta and the federal government should not prevent First Nations children from getting necessary medical and educational services.
• ensure students are properly assessed and any special learning needs are identified as early as possible in a child’s development.
• respect that each special needs student is unique and allow parents, teachers and administrators the autonomy to determine what is best for each student, including the opportunity to attend the same classrooms as typical students when possible.
• mandate that adequate funding follow each special needs student to the education facility of the parent’s choice to ensure that adequate supervision and support is provided to each student so that the classroom can remain a healthy learning environment.
• institute methods to improve transparency concerning student outcomes so parents have the information they need to make informed decisions regarding their child’s education.
• grant public, separate and public charter schools more flexibility to offer specialized programs in the trades, arts, music, physical education and business while ensuring that all students learn the core aspects of the standard curriculum.
• work with employers, Alberta school boards, postsecondary institutions and the Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training Board to increase funding, training and apprenticeships in the trades and technical sectors, starting at the high school level.
• allow individual workers the choice to determine whether or not any portion of their mandatory union dues are used to fund political activity and social advocacy. ❚