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December 12, 2022

Parent-Run Public Schools in Canada

To the email inbox of: Bob Bray

Distributed to: 196 reporters and commentators; plus 390 folks interested in school board elections including members of the Social Mavrik Federation.

From: Bob Bray, President, Social Mavrik Federation

Disclaimer: to remove your name from the distribution list, please reply to this email with "No more" in the subject line.

What's in a name or a term?

Terminology at its most useful is self-explanatory and when there are two basically similar types of an entity the terminology used should capture the essential difference between the two types.

There are two types of public schools.

The familiar type of public school is variously referred to as a neighbourhood school, or a government school, or a public school (ignoring the existence of a second type of public school), or a regular school. The best term for schools of this type is regular school.

The second type of public school is similar to a regular school in that it enrols all children, charges no tuition fee, employs certified teachers, follows the jurisdiction's program of studies and holds no ceremonies on behalf of religious or political groups.

This best term for schools of this type is charter school.

The term "charter" describes the agreement reached between the jurisdiction's Ministry of Education and the non-profit society that owns or rents the school. The agreement is one of the differences between a regular school and a charter school, but it is not the essential one.

The essential difference is leadership structure.

The leadership structure in a regular public school starts with the quadrennial election of trustees, who are community members, to the school district Board of Trustees. The trustees hire a superintendent who hires many principals who then hire, according to regulations for seniority and bumping rights, the teachers for each school. This leadership structure can be described as trustee-run.

The leadership structure in a charter public school starts with the annual election of directors, who are primarily parents, to the non-profit society Board of Directors. These directors hire a principal who then hires, according to a shared philosophy of education, the teachers for the school. This leadership structure can be described as parent-run.

Again, there are two types of public schools: trustee-run and parent-run. These two types have similarities. For example the curriculum is the same, open enrolment is the same, no tuition is the same, and no religious observance is the same. And these two types have differences. The essential difference is the leadership structure. In comparison to a trustee-run regular school, the Board and Principal of a parent-run charter school will be very responsive to parental priorities.

How many public schools are there in each Canadian jurisdiction?

I researched the answer online and the results are shown below.

Some law-making jurisdictions have yet to amend their school act to enable the voluntary formation of parent-run charter public schools.

The numbers below include only those schools that enjoy the full per-student operating grant from taxpayers.

There are 19 parent-run schools established in Canada, some with enrolment waiting lists, and all of them are in Alberta.

A parent and/or teacher group which wants to form a charter public school in Alberta needs to propose a unique program not available in a regular public school in order to be granted a charter by the Alberta Minister of Education. While this "uniqueness" requirement is not fundamental to charter schools in general, it is working in Alberta, as shown by the 19 parent-run schools listed below.

The results from the 2022 school board elections in British Columbia were reported in my October 20th news release. The results in summary are: 74 common sense trustee candidates, 29 of whom were top vote-getters (one in each selected trustee electoral area), 14 were elected and the number of voters supporting common sense education is 152,712 in total.

The names of the 74 candidates can be viewed by clicking on the button below and entering a star or asterisk in the search box that appears. Entering a percent sign filters the list for number of voters for each selected school board.

The initial results from the 2022 school board elections in Ontario were reported in my November 2nd news release. Since then further information has become available. The updated results in summary are: 82 common sense trustee candidates, 67 of whom were top vote-getters (one in each selected trustee electoral area), 15 were elected and the number of voters supporting common sense education is 160,726 in total.

The names of the 82 candidates can be viewed by clicking on the button below and entering a star or asterisk in the search box that appears. Entering a percent sign filters the list for number of voters for each selected school board.

In my series of news releases about 2022 school board elections in British Columbia and Ontario this one is my seventh and wraps up my news releases on these elections.

By Jonathan Bradley

Jonathan describes the 2021 classroom interaction that resulted in the teacher, Jim McMurty, being recommended for termination by the Abbotsford School Board:

One student in a class he was substituting for said the priests murdered the children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School by torturing them and leaving them out in the snow to die. He corrected her by saying "the children who died tragically while enrolled in residential schools did so from disease, particularly tuberculosis."

Jonathan Bradley's entire article can be viewed here.

This is a story about how hard it is to start a school.

The story is based on the Michigan cities of Plymouth and Detroit where the jurisdiction's school act has wording that enables the formation of parent-run charter schools. Most jurisdictions in Canada do not yet have enabling legislation in their school act. Except Alberta amended their school act in 1994 and draft legislation has been prepared for British Columbia's school act.

The story's author provides recent first hand accounts from committed adults who are parents and who have successfully applied their anger to the creation of two virtue and morals-based schools.

The story is written by Steven Kovac and titled "Citizens Groups Revive ‘Classical’ Education by Founding Public Charter Schools in Their Communities".

The story can be viewed here on the Epoch Times website.

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Contact:

Bob Bray, President, Social Mavrik Federation

250-504-0052

bob.bray@socialmavrikbc.ca

The Social Mavrik Federation is a registered society in British Columbia promoting BC legislative petitions and advocating for 20 K-12 parent-managed charter schools in each province and territory.

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