Connect with us

Education

Local School Boards Welcome Bill To Reduce School Fees

Published

8 years ago

4 minute read

By Sheldon Spackman

Officials with the Red Deer Public School District and Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools are cautiously optimistic about the impacts of Bill 1, an act to reduce school fees for Alberta families.

The Bill has been tabled in the Alberta Legislature and if passed, would no longer require parents to pay school fees for instructional supplies or materials or for eligible students taking the bus to their designated schools. Provincial officials say these two fees cost Alberta families more than $50 million each year and account for approximately 25 per cent of the total fees charged to parents. If proclaimed, Bill 1 will result in amendments to the School Act, as well as the creation of a new school fees regulation before the start of the 2017/18 school year.

In a release, Red Deer Public School Board Chair Bev Manning says “As part of our District’s Equity priority, school fees and fundraising have been one of our areas of focus. It has been a regular concern that we have raised when we’ve met with our MLA’s.” Manning says “We recognize that fees are a challenge for many and in some ways it reduces educational opportunities for students. News that the Notley government is moving forward on this issue is welcomed by the district and our families.”

Manning adds, “Fees for programs, textbooks, student transportation, lunchroom supervision, field trips and optional courses can add up for families. Last year Red Deer Public Schools collected $2.5 million in such fees. While fees may not be eliminated, we appreciate the government is working to reduce fees for families.”

She also points out, “We have been making progress on this but there just has not been the funds available to address this fully. This Board introduced a Fee Waiver Program 15 years ago to assist families facing financial challenges. Over the last nine years, we have waived fees totaling $736,095 for a total of 4947 students and their families. This demonstrates the challenges of school fees.”

Superintendent Stun Henry says “We understand from government that funding for this will be covered through “cost efficiencies” within the department. The government has committed that this initiative will not negatively impact school boards.  While appreciative of the news, we need more information to see if and what the impact will be on the Department and school jurisdictions.”

Provincial officials say further consultation with parents and school boards will occur before the regulation is established, but it will set a clear definition for instructional supplies or materials. Included in this category would be charges for:

  • textbooks
  • workbooks
  • photocopying
  • printing or paper supplies

Red Deer Catholic Regional School Board Chair Guy Pelletier says anything to help lower the cost of education for families is always a good thing. However, he says it remains to be seen exactly what impact these new changes would have on their District specifically. Pelletier points out that they are anticipating fee reductions for supplies and transportation for some students. Those taking the bus to school 2.4 kilometres or less, may see a reduction in their bussing fees for example. Whether a child is on a sports team or taking certain courses could also affect how much they pay in fees as well Pelletier says.

Education Minister David Eggen has said any new school fees being considered would now have to be cleared with Alberta Education. This Pelletier says is a bit of a concern at this time but he’s hoping it won’t be. None the less, Pelletier points out there won’t be any change in programs or their delivery with these potential changes.

Related Topics:

Follow Author

More from this author
espionage / 3 hours ago

Democracy Betrayed, The Scathing Truth Behind Canada’s Foreign Interference Report

Alberta / 8 hours ago

Alberta health ministry to ‘consider’ report calling for end to COVID shots for healthy kids

Uncategorized / 9 hours ago

DeepSeek: The Rise of China’s Open-Source AI Amid US Regulatory Shifts and Privacy Concerns

Censorship Industrial Complex

TDF and James Kitchen appeal Monique LaGrange decision to Alberta Court of Appeal

Published on January 23, 2025

By

TDF’s Legal Team

 

Written by 

 

The Democracy Fund (TDF), together with lawyer James Kitchen, will appeal a recent Alberta Court decision involving school trustee Monique LaGrange. Mrs. LaGrange was a trustee of the Red Deer Catholic school board until the board disqualified her as a result of memes she posted and media interviews she gave, of which a majority of the trustees disapproved.

Mr. Kitchen has now filed his Notices of Appeal with the Alberta Court of Appeal, which can be read here and here.

In 2023, Mrs. LaGrange shared a meme on her personal Facebook account outlining her concerns about the increasing indoctrination of students into Queer theory and transgender ideology. The meme featured two side-by-side images: one of young children holding swastika flags and the other of young children holding pride progress flags, accompanied by the caption, “Brainwashing is brainwashing.” The post garnered support but also criticism, especially from teachers and other school trustees. One of the trustees submitted a complaint alleging that by posting the meme Mrs. LaGrange had violated many sections of the new trustee code of conduct.

Following a hearing in September 2023, a majority of the board of trustees determined Mrs. LaGrange had breached the code of conduct. The board imposed several sanctions, including that she cease making any public statements in areas touching upon or relating to the 2SLGBTQ+ community, issue a public apology, and complete sensitivity training at her own expense.

Mrs. LaGrange refused to issue an apology and maintained that her actions were consistent with her commitment to protecting children, stating, “I was elected to stand up and protect our children, and that is what I am doing.”

Shortly thereafter, another trustee submitted a complaint about Mrs. LaGrange, alleging that she had again violated the code of conduct and also breached the sanctions by posting another meme and doing two media interviews. The meme was a popular one depicting a wolf with colourful make-up with the caption, “I just want to read some books to your chickens”.

After a second hearing, a majority of the trustees again determined Mrs. LaGrange had breached the code of conduct and the sanction regarding public comments. The board then disqualified her as a trustee, effectively kicking her off the board.

The lawyer for Mrs. LaGrange, James Kitchen, said:

“This case is the first of its kind. Never before has an Alberta board of school trustees kicked another trustee off the board for what effectively amounts to a disagreement regarding expressed political and religious beliefs (disguised, in our view, as trustee misconduct). Such an outcome has been made possible by the recent adoption of trustee codes of conduct by Alberta school boards. These new codes enable a majority of trustees to censor and cancel individual trustees with whom they politically disagree. In this case, it appears that a majority of politically left-leaning school trustees applied the code of conduct to a politically disfavoured trustee in order to censure, humiliate, and remove Monique for her outspoken opposition to the sexualization and indoctrination of young students.”

TDF and Mr. Kitchen challenged the board’s decision at a judicial review at the Alberta Court of King’s Bench. The Court varied the board’s apology requirement but otherwise upheld all of the board’s findings.

TDF litigation director Mark Joseph expressed concern over the broader implications of the case, stating:

“Disqualifying a democratically-elected representative based on public comments sets a dangerous precedent. It undermines free speech rights, tolerance for political diversity, and representative democracy by allowing officials to impose ideological purity tests on electoral candidates. The proper response to allegations of bad policy is repudiation at the ballot box rather than official disqualification. If upheld, this decision will pose a significant threat to democratic rights in Canada.”

About The Democracy Fund

Founded in 2021, The Democracy Fund (TDF) is a Canadian charity dedicated to constitutional rights, advancing education and relieving poverty. TDF promotes constitutional rights through litigation and public education. TDF supports an access to justice initiative for Canadians whose civil liberties have been infringed by government lockdowns and other public policy responses to the pandemic.

Continue Reading

Education

Parents should oppose any plans to replace the ABCs with vague terminology in schools

Published on January 2, 2025

By

From the Fraser Institute

By Paige MacPherson

According to a recent poll, the vast majority of parents in Canada easily understand letter grades on report cards but are confused by the nouveau “descriptive” grading adopted in British Columbia. This should serve as a warning to any province or school board thinking about adopting this type of convoluted descriptive grading.

In September 2023, despite overwhelming opposition from British Columbians, the B.C. government replaced letter grades—such as A, B, C, D, etc.—on K-9 report cards with a “proficiency scale,” which includes the descriptive terms “emerging,” “developing,” “proficient” and “extending.” If these four terms seem confusing to you, you’re not alone.

According to the recent poll (conducted by Leger and commissioned by the Fraser Institute), 93 per cent of Canadian parents from coast to coast said the letter grade “A” was “clear and easy” to understand while 83 per cent said the letter grade “C” was “clear and easy” to understand. (For the sake of brevity, the poll only asked respondents about these two letter grades.)

By contrast, 58 per cent of Canadian parents said the descriptive grade “extending” was “unclear and difficult” to understand and only 26 per cent could correctly identify what “extending” means on a report card.

It was a similar story for the descriptive grade “emerging,” as 57 per cent of Canadian parents said the term was “unclear and difficult” to understand and only 28 per cent could correctly identify what “emerging” means on a report card.

It’s also worth noting that the poll simplified the definitions of the four “descriptive” grading terms. The B.C. government’s official definitions, which can be found on the government’s website, speak for themselves. For example: “Extending is not synonymous with perfection. A student is Extending when they demonstrate learning, in relation to learning standards, with increasing depth and complexity. Extending is not a bonus or a reward and does not necessarily require that students do a greater volume of work or work at a higher grade level. Extending is not the goal for all students; Proficient is. Therefore, if a student turns in all their work and demonstrates evidence of learning in all learning standards for an area of learning, they are not automatically assigned Extending.”

So, what are the consequences of this confusing gobbledygook? Well, we already have some anecdotes.

Before the B.C. government made the changes provincewide, the Surrey School District participated in a pilot program to gauge the effectiveness of descriptive grading. According to Elenore Sturko, a Conservative MLA in Surrey and mother of three, for three years her daughter’s report cards said she was “emerging” rather than clearly stating she was failing. Sturko was unaware there was a problem until the child’s Third Grade teacher called to tell Sturko that her daughter was reading at a Kindergarten level.

Former B.C. education minister Rachna Singh tried to justify the change saying descriptive grading would help students become “better prepared for the outside world” where you “don’t get feedback in letters.” But parents in B.C. clearly aren’t happy.

Of course, other provinces also use terms in their grading systems (meeting expectations, exceeding expectations, satisfactory, needs improvement, etc.) in addition to letter grades. But based on this polling data, the descriptive grading now used in B.C.—which again, has completely replaced letter grades—makes it much harder for B.C. parents to understand how their children are doing in school. The B.C. government should take a red pen to this confusing new policy before it does any more damage. And parents across the country should keep a watchful eye on their local school boards for any plans to replace the ABCs with vague terminology open to interpretation.

Paige MacPherson

Associate Director, Education Policy
Continue Reading

Trending

X