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As you’ve hopefully heard by now, the Alberta Parents’ Union officially launched last month and, as part of our launch activities, we’re holding a series of events across the province.

So far, we've held events in Cochrane, Taber, Lethbridge, Pincher Creek, Strathmore, High River, Calgary, Drumheller, Didsbury, Rocky Mountain House, and Edmonton, and we have 11 more events scheduled already (see below!).

We are very excited about the future of education in Alberta, and we’d like to work with you to build a great organization that can represent parents, advocate for students, and work to improve education in our great province.

One of the issues parents have brought up most often at our events so far is the issue of school choice.

At a basic level, school choice is the idea that parents and students should determine which schools students attend, rather than students being allocated to specific schools by the government based on where they live.

But, school choice doesn't only apply to the idea of getting to choose which school to attend - it also applies to what type of education is available to be chosen from.

Types of education include public, separate, francophone, alternative, charter, independent, or home education, and specific schools within each type may have their own special focus too.

Alberta has a good selection of school choice already, but there are ways the system could be improved.

School vouchers would help ensure choice is maximized for all, by ensuring that families have the ability to choose from a wide array of schools offering these different types of education and focuses.

In a school voucher system, rather than schools receiving bulk funding directly from the government, each student is allocated a voucher that represents their share of the government funding, and the government funding then follows the student to whichever school they choose to attend.

This isn't some hypothetical idea either.

School voucher systems are already in place in a number of countries, and in a variety of different systems, right around the world, and they're working.

Opponents of school voucher programs argue that these systems encourage stratification and separate families with more wealth and means from lower-income families, but this is only true in places where the number of vouchers available is limited.

Many jurisdictions get around this problem by allocating limited spots in voucher schools by using a lottery system so that access to these spots is determined by chance, rather than by wealth or motivation of the parents.

A better solution, of course, would be to simply expand the voucher programs so that all students could benefit from the program.

School voucher systems result in better outcomes for students across the board, on everything from higher test scores in math and reading, to better social outcomes.

If anything, it's the current system that encourages stratification and inequality, as children from wealthy families can afford to pay extra to go to higher-performing private schools, while those less well off are stuck attending lower-performing government-run schools.

Living in Alberta, we are lucky enough to have some of the best education choices in the world, but we can't afford to take that choice for granted, and we can always work to do better.

Giving every student, regardless of family wealth or income, the ability to attend a higher-performing school would be one of the single best policy reforms the government could implement to reduce inequality and improve the lives of all children.

If you'd like to hear more about the school choice issue, and many other education issues, please consider attending one of our upcoming events:

High Level - June 7th, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - Register Here

Peace River - June 8th, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - Register Here

Grande Prairie - June 9th, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - Register Here

Edson - June 10th, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - Register Here

Red Deer - June 11th, 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm - Register Here

Camrose - June 13th, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - Register Here

Grassland - June 14th, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - Register Here

Fort McMurray - June 15th, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - Register Here

Wainwright - June 16th, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - Register Here

Brooks - June 17th, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - Register Here

Medicine Hat - June 18th, 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm - Register Here

If you can't make it to one of these events don't worry, we'll be holding more events soon!

I look forward to meeting you all.

Regards,

Jeff ParkExecutive DirectorAlberta Parents' Union

P.S.

The Alberta Parents' Union runs entirely on donations from parents like you. Please consider joining the APU for $10 a month or, alternatively, making a one-off contribution to our efforts.

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