FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 31, 2026

Edmonton - New proposed changes to Alberta’s Education Act through Bill 25, An Act to Remove Politics and Ideology from Classrooms and Amend the Education Act, 2026 introduced today will make charter schools permanent and deepen provincial government overreach within democratically-elected school boards and Alberta’s classrooms. Public Interest Alberta is calling on parents, students, and stakeholders to oppose these proposed changes, which are part of the UCP government’s American-style agenda for public education.

“Albertans support public education and they trust teachers, and this UCP bill is an egregious American-style attack on public education,” said Bradley Lafortune, Executive Director of Public Interest Alberta. “This bill will erode public education by making charter schools permanent, muzzle teachers, and impose political ideology into classrooms.”

“This bill does the opposite of what the UCP government says it will do,” said Lafortune. “We’ve seen what happens when state and federal governments impose their political ideology in the United States and the results are destructive – classroom can become less safe, educational content becomes distorted by materials that privilege politics over objectivity and truth; teachers are often left feeling confused, uncertain and fearful about teaching objectively; and the principles and values of public education and democracy are undermined through government overreach and control."

The proposed changes to the Education Act, include:

  • Adding provincial oversight for naming or renaming only public schools — Catholic and francophone schools would be excluded from this requirement.
  • Requiring school trustees who run in a federal electoral nomination or as an electoral candidate take an unpaid leave of absence from the board (this rule already exists for provincial candidates).
  • Require school boards to get ministerial approval for new or renewed superintendent contracts. The minister would have 60 days to review contracts.
  • Language changes requiring schools to emphasize that responsible behaviours from students includes refraining from violence, including specifications in student codes of conduct.
  • Allowing the education minister to set school authorities’ priorities.
  • Requiring schools to meaningfully involve parents in extracurricular activities. The minister clarified this does not change the law around notifying parents about student participation in gay-straight alliances or similar clubs.
  • Putting into law that all provincial achievement tests and diploma exams would be conducted digitally, rather than on paper. Exemptions would be available.
  • Reversing a previous requirement for external presenters on sexual health education, gender identity and sexual orientation to be pre-approved by government – only for religious instruction
  • Giving the minister the power to require a school authority to dispose of unused property to be used for another educational purpose. The minister says this policy will target vacant school buildings first.

“Instead of imposing far-right ideology in our classrooms, the provincial government should immediately:

  • Repeal the law that shredded teachers’ Charter rights,
  • Re-commit to free and fair collective bargaining with teachers on all issues impacting student and classroom conditions, and
  • Strengthen access to public education by fully funding enrollment growth, complex and diverse classroom conditions, and currently overcrowded schools and classrooms,” said Lafortune.

“With the introduction of this Bill, the UCP government has continued its ideological assault on public education,” said Lafortune. “These proposed changes don’t remove ideology, they impose them and further take Alberta down the halls of Trump’s education agenda.”

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Public Interest Alberta is a non-profit, non-partisan, province-wide organization focused on education and advocacy on public interest issues. Public Interest Alberta encourages all Albertans opposed to the privatization and ideological overreach by the provincial government to join Public Interest Alberta.

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Media Contact:

Shiza Wasi
Communications & Membership Engagement Officer
Public Interest Alberta 
[email protected]