EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government’s $8.6-billion plan to fast-track building new schools will include a pilot project to incentivize private ones.
Smith said the ultimate goal is to create thousands of new spaces for an exploding number of new students at a reduced cost to taxpayers.
"We're putting it out there as a pilot to see if there is any interest in partnering on the same basis that we'll be building the other schools with the different school boards,” she said. The government also wants to build or expand five charter school buildings per year, starting in next year’s budget, adding 12,500 spaces within four years.
He said community or religious groups traditionally cover those costs, but they can help take the pressure off the public or separate systems.Dennis MacNeil, head of the Public School Boards Association of Alberta, said they welcome the new funding, but said money for private school builds would set a precedent that could ultimately hurt the public system.
"No other province spends as much money on private schools as Alberta does, and it's at the detriment of public schools, where over 90 per cent of students go to school," he said.
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