Chestermere-Rocky View MLA and Education Critic Bruce McAllister has called mandatory school fees “a hidden tax and undue financial burden on parents” in his call for Albertans to sign a petition to end mandatory school fees in Alberta public, Catholic and public charter schools.
“Every September, I get calls from parents who are shocked to see what they owe in mandatory school fees,” McAllister said in a Sept. 2 press release.
“A family with three children could pay mandatory fees of up to $1,000 depending on where they live.”
Parents of students in Rocky View Schools (RVS) in 2014/15 can pay between $25 (for kindergarten students) to $145 (for high school students) per student up to a family maximum of $360 for board-established Mandatory Instructional Fees.
According to the RVS 2014/15 Instructional Resource Fees document, the purpose of the (instructional fee) is to offset the cost of students supplies and instructional materials including digital resources and licensing. These materials may include: Alberta Education recommended resources, kindergarten to Grade 4 school supplies and instructional resources.
These board-established fees and the family maximum do not include transportation fees (which are between $175 to $195 with a family maximum of $350 to $390, depending on where the student lives).
Other fees may include school-established instructional fees, band instrument rental fees, textbook caution fees, school-established optional fees and field trip fees.
From 2010/11 through to 2012/13 the RVS instructional fees did not increase and remained at $25 to $128 per student, depending on what grade they were in.
In the 2013/14 school year instructional fees increased to $25 to $145 per student and did not increase in the 2014/15 school year.
The RVS transportation fees remained the same from the 2008/09 school year to 2012/13 and were $115 to $135 per student to a max of $230 to $270 per family, depending on where the students were bussed from.
In 2013/14, the transportation fee increased to $165 to $185 per student to a family maximum of $330 to $370, depending on where the students were bussed from.
In the 2014/15 school year transportation fees increased by $10 and the family maximum increased by $20.
“In a perfect world where education was perfectly funded, there would be no school fees,” said RVS Board Chair Colleen Munro.
“We’re not in a perfect world and resources are scarce.”
She said the board of trustees does their very best to keep fees as low as possible and added they worked hard to make sure there was no instructional fee increase this year.
“We understand (school fees) can be a financial pressure in some of our communities,” she said.
Minister of Education Jeff Johnson said he is disappointed by the petition and called it a “political move.”
He said the Official Opposition was invited to contribute in the year-long consultation process for the Inspiring Education initiative, which is aimed at highlighting the values, skills, practices and knowledge that will be vital to children in today’s rapidly changing world. However, Johnson said the Wildrose Party chose not to participate.
“They avoided the debate and the discussion,” he said. “(The petition) is strictly political.”
He said he is sympathetic to parents concerns but added by eliminating mandatory fees it would become a provincial responsibility instead of a local one. He said the resulting centralized funding would translate to parents in one part of the province contributing to courses in another part of the province through taxation or would require the cancellation of optional classes.
“It would be possible but completely impractical,” he said.
McAllister said the Wildrose Party would cut mandatory fees completely and would find funding for schools in “the plethora of incredibly wasteful spending” of the provincial government. He added one area Wildrose would adjust is the salaries and raises of senior bureaucrats. “Alberta has a giant spending problem, not a revenue problem,” he said.
To view McAllister’s petition, visit wildrose.ca/endmandatoryfees
