Don Braid’s Oct. 7 column claims the Alberta government is showering private schools with money while public education falls behind.

That’s not what’s happening. Let me explain.

In Alberta, these schools are called independent schools, and any independent school that receives even a single dollar of public funding must, by legislation, be a not-for-profit organization. They provide audited financial statements to the government, employ Alberta-certified teachers and teach the Alberta curriculum.

The claim that independent schools are getting larger funding increases than public schools can be quickly corrected. Alberta’s Education Funding Manual, publicly available online, ties independent school grants directly to public funding rates at 70 per cent of the public per-student amount. Wh

See Full Page