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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, Alberta's Education Dis-Advantage - Article﻿</title>﻿

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﻿<b﻿>﻿Alberta's Education Dis-Advantage 

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by Neil Fettes﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, December 1997 - January 1998﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

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Six months after Ralph Klein became leader of the ruling Alberta Progressive Conservative Party he ran and won an election around the slogan of "We Care, We Listen." Despite almost sixty years of fiscally and socially conservative government in Alberta, Klein's "chicken little" defecit hysteria was able to convince many that they had been living too high on the hog for too long: sacrifices would have to be made. Naturally enough "special interests" (the foulest epithet in neo-Conservative vocabulary) were the first to feel the Premier's special brand of "care." Healthcare, social services and education all saw their budgets dramatically reduced during the Klein administration.

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In the fall of 1993 cuts of 5% to all public sector salaries, including that of the teachers were announced by the government, but that was only the beginning.The February 1994 budget brought cuts of $240 million for the 1994-95 period (12.4% in one year). The government also assumed control of funding, meaning that local boards no longer had access to local property taxes. Now Klein had the power to draw funds from the urban area with more diverse educational requirements and re-direct it into the rural areas from which he drew his base of support. Kindergarten time and funding was cut by 50%. The list continues. Klein was able to deflect criticism from organizations like the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA) by linking their fears over education cutbacks to their salary cuts and dismissing them as "special interests" motivated by selfish concerns.

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Most ominious was the introduction of Charter schools, a model exported from the United States. While the government proclaimed it was simply a more efficient way of delivering a service, Charter schools represented a deeper breach in the public education system. Alberta already partially funded private schools under the dubious rationale of providing "choice" in education, but Charter schools went further. Strongly endorsed by such right wing organizations as the Fraser Institute, Charter schools are privately run but publically funded, and represent the application of business principles to education. To date there are fifteen Charter Schools in Alberta, with the possiblity of further expansion. 

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What has been the result of the Klein cuts? Alberta is one of the richest, if not the richest province in Canada, but it has the highest pupil-teacher ratio in the country. Alberta currently under-funds education to the tune of $937 below the Canadian average. In 1993, Alberta stood fifth in education funding. Today it is seventh, behind such "have not" provinces as Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Across North American states and provinces Alberta stands forty fifth, only slightly ahead of Louisiana. Class rooms are overcrowded and numbers continue to rise. Special needs students are dumped into regular class rooms without the necessary support to ensure successful intergration. ESL programmes are slashed. The system is strained to bursting point. Yet Klein still seems not to hear the alarm bells. 

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While public opinion polls have consistently shown that cuts to health care and education are among the things about which Albertans are most concerned, the ATA seems unable or unwilling to confront the government. On October 4th the ATA staged a rally of 15,000 on the grounds of the Alberta legislature. Yet during this rally, which drew almost half of the teachers in the province, Ralph Klein's name was mentioned only once (and then by Marshall Jarvis of the Ontario Catholic Teachers' Federation) and Education Minister Gary Marr's not at all. Instead the ATA leadership tried to whip up the crowd with personal tales of hardship from teachers and the vague and inoffensive slogan "Get the Message." On occasions when the crowd chanted the slightly more forceful "Shame on Ralph" they were ignored by speakers at the mike. When the crowd began other slogans, the chants were taken up and encouraged. CUPE members who tried to distribute a leaflet in support of teachers and asking for solidarity in their struggle with the Edmonton Board of Education were told to stop.

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Calgary Teachers have been without a contract for over a year and are currently on a work to rule (referred to as a "withdrawal of voluntary services"). Calgary teachers recently voted to renew their strike vote for another four months rather than escalate the dispute. The membership was not given the option of proceeding to an all out strike. The strategy that the ATA, Local 38 leadership has chosen to follow is to wait until next year's budget, as well as the upcoming audit of the Calgary Board of Education and hope that Klein will return the 5% from 1993. This last was a promise that "Ralph" didn't keep. [The PC slogan in the last election was "He Kept His Word" accompanied by large billboards of the leader smiling down. Quite a number of those billboards were defaced during the election campaign]. In other words, they are counting on the benevolence of the same Conservative government that gutted education in the first place.

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At the same time as Calgary ATA members have been asking for solidarity and support in their struggle, ATA leader Bauni Mackay told the Edmonton Journal that in the event of a strike by CUPE education workers in Edmonton, teachers would probably cross their lines! It is hardly a surprise then that the Klein's first Education Minister Halvar Johnson who presided over the first round of cuts, was a former ATA President! Recently teachers across Alberta have carried signs proclaiming the need to "Stop the De-Klein" in education. Deeds speak louder than words and solidarity is powerful. Yet as long as teachers remain isolated as "professionals" their efforts will be in vain.

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