Several Alberta charter school lobbyists have ties to UCP government

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Edmonton on Wednesday April 10, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson.

Following the Alberta government’s recent announcement of capital funding to build charter and independent schools, the Investigative Journalism Foundation has found that several consultants with ties to the United Conservative Party (UCP) have been lobbying on behalf of charter schools and associated organizations over the past year.

Last month, Premier Danielle Smith announced an $8.6 billion commitment to the School Construction Accelerator Program to create space for more than 200,000 students to accommodate the province’s boom in enrolment.

Several of the lobbyists hired to communicate with the UCP government on behalf of charter schools and the Alberta Association of Public Charter Schools (TAAPCS) have either held office or worked for the UCP government or the predecessor Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties in the past.

Some of the lobbyists have also made individual contributions to the UCP over the last four years.

“I’m not surprised. … I think it’s alarming,” said Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling in a recent interview. “The public should be alarmed by that as well because these are public dollars that are being spent with the intention to support public education in this province and we have students that don’t have their needs met in these schools.”

Charter schools are non-profit public schools funded by the provincial government that operate independently from the public school system, but still follow the same curriculum. Charter schools also have capped classroom sizes, unlike public schools.

While charter schools in Alberta are completely publicly funded and barred from charging tuition like private or independent schools, they do still charge fees for students — hundreds of dollars more than what a family might pay at the average public school.

Fees for students in charter schools are $627 on average, compared with $220 per student in public, separate and Francophone schools, according to an analysis provided by the Alberta Teachers' Association.

Key connections

The IJF traced the connections between charter school groups and conservative politics by analyzing public records. Consultant lobbyists are required to disclose if they have held public office within the last two years.

Diplomat Consulting Ltd. is currently lobbying for Li'l Einstein's Inc., a Montessori early child care facility in Edmonton that is pushing for the development of at least one charter school and two more Montessori child care centres.

Kalee Kent, who was announced as government relations director of Diplomat on Aug. 22, is listed as one of the lobbyists.

Kent served as a ministerial assistant in the Alberta government until September 2022, and was also executive assistant to the premier's chief of staff.

The lobbying registration was filed on Aug. 21, but says none of the listed lobbyists were former public office holders in the previous two years.

Former ministerial chief of staff and executive director of the PC Party of Alberta, Kelley Charlebois, is the current executive director of TAAPCS and is lobbying “to ensure general awareness within Executive Council and the Ministry of Education of opportunities and challenges for Public Charter Schools in Alberta.”

Jeff Wilson, former Calgary-Shaw MLA for the Wildrose Party and member of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, was the Foundations for the Future Charter Academy (FFCA) board chair for five years before stepping down in February.

Shortly after, he registered as a lobbyist for the FFCA to “secure additional properties.”

Monte Solberg, CEO of New West Public Affairs and former federal Conservative MP, is also lobbying on behalf of FFCA to “advocate for permanency for charter schools that meet a threshold of success and years of operation.”

Sonia Kont and Christine Myatt, who have lobbied for the FFCA, previously worked for the UCP government in communications roles.

On Aug.19, Wellington Advocacy Inc. registered to lobby for STEM Innovation Academy Society with former assistant to premier Jason Kenney Clancy Bouwman and former director of issues management for the United Conservative Party Caucus Peter Csillag listed as associated lobbyists.

Bouwman and Csillag have made financial contributions totalling $3641.25 and $2637.50, respectively, to the UCP within the last four years.

They are also listed in Wellington's registration to lobby for Alberta Classical Academy to “ensure provincial support matches that received by other charter and public schools in Alberta.”

In an emailed statement, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said “there is no favouritism being played.”

“My team and I have an open-door policy for all of our school authority partners to meet with us and discuss their concerns or priorities,” said the minister.

Charter school critics ‘not surprised’ by lobbying

Prior to the 2019 Education Act, there were 14 charter schools in Alberta, initially established to provide programs that weren’t available in nearby districts. In 2020, former premier Jason Kenney eliminated the 15-school cap. Now there are 38 charter schools across the province.

NDP education critic Amanda Chapman said the majority of government funds should go to public schools, where most Alberta students go.

“The public system is the only system that is actually required to accept every child who comes through their door. In the public system there is no child left behind,” said Chapman in an interview this week.

“Some people might say $1,500 or $2,000 a year might not be that much money. Well, for a lot of Alberta families that is a lot of money and that's enough of a barrier to prevent them from being able to ever consider a charter school program,” Chapman said.

But Association of Independent Schools and Colleges in Alberta (AISCA) executive director John Jagersma says more public funding to charter and private schools will make them more accessible to the general public.

“The reason schools charge tuition is because they have to pay their bills,” said Jagersma in an interview Wednesday. “So as government funds (increase), you see more schools open with lower tuition.”

Accredited private schools currently receive 60 to 70 per cent of public funding per student, amounting to about $5,000 to $6,500 for each child, the highest rate for operating grants in Canada.

Jagersma said independent schools have been growing faster than the rest of the system at about eight per cent every year for the last few years.

“The broader the variety of education for students, the better the system.”

But Jagersma said he welcomes questions about private and charter schools, saying he wants to make sure the province’s initiative is a benefit to Albertans, works for school communities and makes sense for the taxpayer.

The School Construction Accelerator Program will fund up to 30 new schools in metropolitan areas and five to eight modernizations and replacement schools in rural communities per year over the next three years, starting in Budget 2025.

According to statistics from the Government of Alberta, the number of students enrolled in Kindergarten up to Grade 12 has increased by 30,000 since the 2022/2023 school year.

Since the announcement, Nicolaides said the Ministry of Education has received over 400 applications for new schools and renovations. According to an education ministry spokesperson, public charter school authorities submitted approximately 45 capital project requests.