Collateral Damage: Caught in the Crossfire in the War Against Funding Top-Tier Schools
Collateral Damage: Caught in the Crossfire in the War Against Funding Top-Tier Schools December 10, 2025 The petition question asks, “Do You Think The Government of Alberta Should End Its Current Practice of Allocating Public Funds to Accredited Independent (Private) Schools?” The petition , filed by Calgary high school teacher Alicia Taylor, and approved by Elections Alberta on October 7, sounds simple enough. The reality is that presenting this as such a simple question fails to recognize that there are many kinds of independent schools which exist for many different reasons. The Alberta Funds Public Schools web page, which promotes this petition, prominently displays a video where a comparison is made between Webber Academy, an elite and expensive private school, and Patrick Airlie School, a public school in a working class Calgary neighbourhood. The impression created is that government funding flows to schools that are designed for rich people. To be fair, this is not e...