WARNING: LONG 🧵

With the recent announcement of a new STEM Charter school coming to #yyc, we thought it an opportune time to set the record straight on charter schools and separate fact from fiction.
Please make use of the links we've embedded!!
#abed #ableg #abpoli 1/x
🍎1. Charters are privately managed, publicly funded schools ✅
By defn,chartering ANY service is when private citizens organize to privately reserve a special service not offered.Commonly, teams/orgs charter a plane/bus to procure a special service specific to that groups needs
Charter schools are exactly the same thing. In fact the Charter School Regulations (Education Act 2019) state (direct excerpts):
*Definitions
1.0 (f) “charter board” means the society or company named in a charter as being responsible for the operation of a charter school.

3/x
*Applications
8.0 The final application must be in writing and contain the following information:
(a) proof that the charter board is a society incorporated under the Societies Act or a company registered under Part 9 of the Companies Act;

Source: https://www.qp.alberta.ca/1266.cfm?page=2019_085.cfm&leg_type=Regs&isbncln=9780779818648&display=html
4/x
Contents of Charter
4.0 A charter must incl the following:
d)the name of the society or company that is to operate the charter school;

These are all regs that indicate charters are formed & operated PRIVATELY, by private societies/corps, but receive 100% per student public $
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🍎2.Charters are exclusive, and have barriers to entry ✅
Charter schools, by def under the Education Act Charter School Regulations:
Contents of Charter
4 A charter must include the following:
(e) a description of the students for whom the charter school is intended;
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OR
from the 2015 Charter School Handbook Pg8 point 16:

“A charter school is designed to meet the needs of a specific group of students, not every student in Alberta.”

https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/0a4da720-40de-4a27-b2b7-5133b4482025/resource/f6f1351e-bc76-4dfa-8aed-2ab478e15079/download/edc-charter-schools-handbook-2015-09.pdf
#abed
8/x
In fact #abed anticipates refusal
Review by Minister
(2)If an individual has been refused enrolment in a charter school, the individual/ind’s parent may ask the Minister in writing to review the matter to determine the individual’s ELIGIBILITY to be enrolled in the charter school
Many charters have barriers to access like
🍎costly transportation fees
🍎mandatory private music lessons🍎costly uniforms
🍎expensive private psychEd assessments
🍎auditions and long waitlists to name a few.

#abed
10/x
🍎3. Charter schools are Non-Profit✅

Charter schools in AB must be non-profit societies.
This is also true of 85% of the charter schools in the US.
Non Profit is a tax status not a moral badge.

11/x
Many non profits around the world build equity. Charter schools can and do build equity with public dollars.

In fact, in the new Education Act, charter schools are now allowed to privately build and purchase infrastructure and real estate.

http://albertahomeschooling.ca/articles/Bill15summary.pdf
12/x
Many non profits around the world build equity. Charter schools can and do build equity with public dollars. In fact, in the new Education Act, charter schools are now allowed to privately build and purchase infrastructure and real estate. http://albertahomeschooling.ca/articles/Bill15summary.pdf12/x
Many non profits around the world build equity. Charter schools can and do build equity with public dollars. In fact, in the new Education Act, charter schools are now allowed to privately build and purchase infrastructure and real estate. http://albertahomeschooling.ca/articles/Bill15summary.pdf12/x
Many non profits around the world build equity. Charter schools can and do build equity with public dollars. In fact, in the new Education Act, charter schools are now allowed to privately build and purchase infrastructure and real estate. http://albertahomeschooling.ca/articles/Bill15summary.pdf12/x
In the US, charter schools do this by using only a portion of their public funding, say 8,000 of the 10,000 per student dollars, to educate the students (creative accounting!). The remaining 2,000 can be saved and put towards real estate.

13/x #abed
Subsequently, when infrastructure (building or land) is purchased, the property purchased with public dollars, belongs to the Charter society. That is private equity, built with public dollars.

Conversely, public buildings belong to the public. That’s ALL of us...

14/x #abed
It’s why many of us can use schools in off hours, but why Weber Academy or The Edge school reserve the right to deny access to the public, because they are privately owned.

This is now something legislated as possible for Alberta Charter schools. ( http://albertahomeschooling.ca/articles/Bill15summary.pdf )

15/x
🍎4. Charter schools cannot be religious✅

While the basic premise of charter schools in Alberta is almost identical to that of charters in the USA, the one exception is that Charter schools in Alberta cannot be religious.

16/x
In USA, the separation of church & state prohibits public $ from funding religious schools.
Charters were introduced partly as a work-around to this legislation.

In Alberta, this is UNNECESSARY because #ABEd already funds religious schools 100%.

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🍎5. Charter schools divert funding from public schools ✅

Here’s a great video, that while it does use an American school as an example, the premise and procedures are nearly identical here in Alberta. #abed 18/x
🍎6. Charters in AB are nothing like the US ❎

This is wishful thinking, something ppl tell themselves so they don’t feel like they are participating in the undermining of public education.
Charter schools in AB were introduced at the same time &under same premise as in the US.
Choice was used as a guise, so that funding would follow the student (as it does both in AB and the US) away from public education.

We continue to advocate public funds for public schools & for true universality in public education.
Charters undermine those ideals.

#abed
20/x
For more information on charter schools check out our
free downloadable advocacy toolkit at http://supportourstudents.ca 

Or ......

21/x
@NPEaction
Network for public educations toolkits:
https://networkforpubliceducation.org/fight-privatization/

#abed 22/x
NPE Toolkit: School Privatization Explained

https://networkforpubliceducation.org/fight-privatization/
And help us recommit to and redefine truly public education.

Get involved with your school council, download toolkits, become an 🆘 champion. 🍎🍎

23/23 FIN

#abed
Finally....apologies for any errors In Threading - this thread was copied and modified from our original FB post :

https://www.facebook.com/1578275615786487/posts/3007570682856966/?d=n

#abed #ableg
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