4 ❚ The ATA News , March 31, 2026
Public dollars earmarked for private school construction
Heather Grant ATA News Staff T he Government of Alberta is set to invest $90 million to add 6,000 new student spaces to the independent school system under Budget 2026.The newly announced Independent School Capital program will contribute up to $10 million in matching grants to independent school boards over three years. Minister of Education and Childcare Demetrios Nicolaides said that priority will be given to schools focused on students with disabilities. “Independent schools serve many students with complex learning needs, including those with significant disabilities,” he said. “Supporting school choice ensures families can select the learning environment that best meets their child’s unique needs and gives students the support they need to succeed.” The announcement comes as a response to continuing student population increases across the province. In the 2026/27 school year,
the government expects that student enrolment in private schools will grow by 11.4 per cent. Abraham Abougouche, president of the Association of Independent School and Colleges in Alberta, welcomed the investment into private school builds. “This will help alleviate student space pressures systemwide and expand choices for families,” Abougouche said. But the move is drawing criticism from public education advocates. The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) says the province helping to finance more student spaces in private schools is a new and concerning issue. “Funding the expansion of private schools is just another hit on public education, which is already bruised,”
ATA president Jason Schilling said. Alberta already provides the highest level of public funding to private school students of any province in Canada. Independent students receive 70 per cent of the funding that public students receive. Notably, roughly 93 per cent of Alberta students are enrolled in the public school system. “Our government has only just promised investments to bring Alberta’s operational funding per student to the middle of the pack, up from last place across Canada, where it sat for years,” said Schilling. “Increasing the amount spent on private schools, especially when it comes to construction, should never happen.” The new dollars for increasing
independent student spaces comes roughly a year and a half after the province pledged $8.6 billion over seven years to build more public schools using an accelerated process. According to the government, in the first year of the Schools Now program, nearly 6,000 student spaces were either created or renovated. The first grant under the Independent School Capital program will go toward the completion of Three Sisters Centre, a 250-student capacity preschool-to-Grade 12 school just outside of Calgary that serves children with disabilities. The school, run by Renfrew Educational Services, is slated to be open in time for the 2027/28 school year.
As part of its Schools Now program, the provincial government is also addressing increasing student numbers through new public school construction projects across Alberta, in both urban and rural areas. The program aims to create 200,000 new and updated student spaces by 2031/32. Find more information on Schools Now and Alberta’s active school construction projects at www.alberta.ca/schools-now.
SCHOOLS NOW
Court rejects ATA injunction on the Back to School Act
Mark Milne ATA News Staff T he Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) has been denied an injunction that sought to pause the province’s Bill 2, the Back to School Act (BSA) , while its legal challenge to the bill proceeds. In early March, lawyers for the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) presented their arguments in the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta in support of the ATA’s injunction case related to Bill 2. The injunction, if successful, would have reverted the ATA’s bargaining position back to its status before Bill 2 was passed in late October. On March 13, Justice Douglas Mah issued his ruling, rejecting the injunction application. While disappointed with the outcome, ATA president Jason Schilling assured the membership that this ruling does not signal the end
of the fight to restore the fundamental freedoms that Bill 2 stripped from Alberta’s teachers in the fall. “We see the government’s use of the notwithstanding clause for what it is: a means to silence teachers and sidestep the charter,” said Schilling.“This is not normal governance and is an affront to all Albertans.” In making his ruling, Justice Mah was careful to emphasize that his decision should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the government’s actions or of the legislation itself. Rather, he said that his role was not to assess whether Bill 2 is fair or good public policy, but to apply the legal test used in Canada to determine whether legislation should be suspended while the case against it proceeds.The graphic below illustrates the three-part test an injunction must meet to be granted. While Justice Mah agreed that Bill 2 was a serious issue that needs to be addressed, he ruled that the injunction did not pass the remaining two tests.
He found that, although the impact of Bill 2 on teachers was significant, it did not meet the legal threshold needed for suspension of the legislation. Finally, Justice Mah concluded that suspending the BSA could generate uncertainty about labour relations and school operations and, therefore, the balance of convenience favoured keeping the legislation in place. In his written decision, Justice Mah recognized the impact the passing of Bill 2 had on teachers. “I can well imagine the incredulity, if not the despair and disrespect, that teachers felt upon the passage of the BSA ,” Justice Mah wrote.“The exercise of their right to strike, a democratic right guaranteed under Canada’s
constitution and their only bargaining chip, was eliminated and a previously rejected collective agreement was rammed down their throats.” The dismissal of the court injunction will not affect the ATA’s broader legal challenge to Bill 2. While the BSA will remain in effect, the full hearing into its constitutionality will continue to move forward and is scheduled for the week of September 21. “Until the full hearing, the Association will continue to hold the government accountable for everything promised to the public education system,” said Schilling. “Alberta students and teachers deserve to see progress and refuse to settle for anything less.”
Read more on the decision in the Members Only section of the ATA website at https://abteach.cc/BargainingUpdates.
Bill 2 Injunction Ruling: The Legal Path Forward
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