Education Platform
Education enriches lives and builds strong economies. Albertans have told us strong public K to 12, and post-secondary education opportunities are a top priority. And we listened. Talking with teachers, students, and parents we’re focused on their priorities. Our plan will make education more accessible, more equitable and grow Alberta’s economy.
Reduce Class Sizes with Class Size Cap: Guidelines are not enough. For decades successive governments have ignored them and have made our classrooms overcrowded. This severely reduces the ability of teachers to work with individual students and lowers academic performance. We will introduce legislation to cap class sizes.
Historic Funding Commitment: Alberta ranks last in Canada for spending on public education. The Alberta Liberals would fix that by investing the $1.2 billion needed to bring us up to the national average.
K-6 Curriculum Restart: A politicized process has created a new curriculum rejected by parents and teachers alike. Alberta Liberals would start from scratch and let educators and parents have their say instead of politicians and their friends.
Inclusive Education: Alberta Liberals would invest in inclusive education to fund teaching assistants, professionals with specialized qualifications, English as second language programs, enhanced cognitive testing, and Individualized Education Plans for students with extra needs.
Healthy Students: More can and should be done to keep students healthy. We support greatly expanding mental health resources in schools and creating a healthy lifestyle curriculum to help students stay well and be their best.
Putting the “Public” Back in Public Education: The Alberta Liberals would prioritize funding for public schools over private schools. We will return charter schools to their intended purpose and ensure that they are incubators of innovation rather than stepping stones to private school status.
Giving Parents a Voice: Alberta Liberals would reverse all funding cuts to the Alberta School Councils Association to help ensure parents and school councils can effectively advocate for students.
Reversing UCP PSE Policy: Tuition hikes, massive cuts, and experimental funding models introduced by the UCP have undermined our post-secondary institutions and damaged our economy. We support reversing this destructive legacy to make post-secondary education programs at polytechnical institutions and universities stronger and more affordable.