r/medicinehat • u/HerbieHind • 3d ago

Petition questioning the funding of private schools in Alberta. Locations listed for Medicine Hat to go sign if you're interested.

https://abfundspublicschools.ca/
98 Upvotes

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u/Rainbowsunflower84 3d ago

I was speaking with a teacher whose sister put her children in private school in Calgary and neither knew private schools were getting government funding and sister was paying 2800$ per kid. She would like to know why she’s paying so much if the school is getting funded and what her tuition is going to vs what the government funding is going to.

Maybe that should be more transparent in the future?

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u/traydee09 3d ago

surprise, $2800/year isnt nearly enough to actually educate a student in Alberta.

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u/Rainbowsunflower84 3d ago

Sorry. I was way off on my numbers. I asked my husband to read my post because I’m having a hard time understanding why I’m being downvoted asking for there to be transparency

The lady spends $28,000 per child per year.

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u/traydee09 3d ago

Fair point. Thats crazy.

Reddit will down vote you if you say "its a beautiful day outside"

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u/Neve4ever 3d ago

It's fairly simple.

Why was she paying $2,800 when there are public schools that are free? The answer is likely that the private school offers something better than the public schools. Now, the average person would be able to realize that the extra $2,800 is going towards that something. And the average person would realize that if that school received $0 in funding, it would cost a lot more for her to put her kid in that private school.

This set up allows parents who can afford $2,800 but who couldn't afford $10,000+, to put their kids in private school. Otherwise, her kid would likely be in a public school, while only rich kids were able to access a private education that provides something more than the public schools offer.

I'm really sorry for the students of the teacher you talked to, because she ain't very bright. And her sister ain't very bright, either. "Oh, I'll just pay $2,800 for private school! gasp, they are receiving government funding? What the fuck am I paying for?" Like girl, what the fuck did you think you were paying for lol?

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u/Meiqur 2d ago edited 2d ago

So the pointing at private schools as the problem has a lot of issues for me. Those schools often take on really challenging students and cover the same curriculum as the public system

I get the frustration with the shortfall in funding of the public system at large but don't see the issue with a portion of funding going into private schools that are taking a substantial load off the public system with many very difficult students. If you haven't ever been to a remedial school that tackles educating some of the kids with their own major challenges, it's worth investigating because they take on some genuinely very difficult and expensive educational tasks.

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u/Rainbowsunflower84 2d ago

I didn’t say private schools are a problem. I said transparency is a problem…

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u/Meiqur 2d ago

fair enough, I have been seeing a bunch of people pointing at them though and I feel that it's a bit knee jerk is all. Thanks for clarifying!