What has happened in Alberta?
I wrote this piece for MACHS, and thought it might be of interest for the readers of the Mercer Report.
One third of Alberta homeschool families got the rug pulled out from under them last week. Here’s what you need to know.
On October 25th, Alberta education Minister, David Eggan, canceled the registration of the Trinity Christian School Association, which oversees the Wisdom homeschooling program. In Alberta, all homeschoolers must register with a school board which oversees them and distributes government funding to families. Several school boards are set up to almost exclusively work with homeschoolers; Trinity is one of them. Wisdom and Trinity have been accused of misappropriation of funds and a lack of adequate oversight by the minister of education. They have hired legal counsel to " immediately oppose the removal of accreditation", the organizations said in a written statement on Thursday the 27th. AHEA and HSLDA are monitoring the situation and helping families keep up-to-date on what is happening.
In Manitoba, homeschoolers do not receive any government funding, and do not have to go through a school board, or have their lesson plans approved. We simply notify the government of our intent to homeschool and provide two progress reports per year. MACHS opposes all government funding which comes with increased government oversight of home education. As demonstrated with the situation in Alberta, once the government is funding home education, they will exert more influence, and cause more hassle for homeschoolers. Right now the families of 3,500 homeschool kids in Alberta had to either wait and see if their school board will be reinstated, or jump over to some other school board in order not to be truant. In Manitoba, individual families can meet government regulations by themselves, and therefore remove the "middle man" and the unnecessary complications that come with it.
You can read more on this story here and here.
If you have any issues arising for your family in Manitoba, contact: info@machs.ca