Alberta’s $8.6B New Schools Plan Will Fund Charter and Private School Construction as Part of ‘School Choice for Parents’

Alberta has rolled out an $8.6 billion plan to speed up the building of new schools–public, private, and charter–in response to rising student enrolment driven by rapid population growth.

The province will also start a school capital pilot program to encourage the creation of new spaces in non-profit private schools.

Smith said the funding is part of the province's commitment "to the principle of providing school choice for parents."

Independent schools, for their part, offer "specialized learning supports as well as religious and cultural programming to support parental and educational choice," said the release.

Smith said the creation of new non-profit private school spaces will come at a "reduced per-student cost to taxpayers."

Although the fund allocation for each type of school was not specified, the premier said the spending would depend on student enrolment.

The progress of the projects will depend on how quickly school boards and municipalities can have land ready for construction.

The province will also speed up school construction by approving projects in the same fiscal year, rather than having them wait for the next budget cycle. That change will immediately clear 10 previously approved projects for their next phase, with six of them moving to full construction, the province said.

Smith asked municipalities and school boards to collaborate on having sites prepared or permitted to begin construction of more schools before the end of the school year.

"We want to change the process so that as the projects become ready, they are able to move more quickly through the process," said Smith. "We'll be prepared to meet the school boards as [the projects] come up."