On October 16th, 2017 during Alberta’s municipal elections, we have the opportunity and responsibility to elect school board trustees within each of Alberta's school districts.
School board trustees set important policies and priorities which directly impact the experience of students and families within their district.
They also manage budgets which range from multi-millions in some areas to more than $1 billion dollars each for Calgary & Edmonton.
These billions of dollars spent every year come directly from taxpayers.
In fact, up to 30% of your property tax goes directly to the province for education (see Edmonton and Red Deer as examples).
Trustee decisions can also impact students and families beyond a trustee's own district.
For example, this past year certain public school boards/trustees actively lobbied the provincial government to:
- eliminate the choice of a separate Catholic system
- defund independent school students
Remember: Even if you have don’t have a child in school or in the public school system, we all pay taxes to fund the system and we all reap the consequences of how it is managed, whether wisely or poorly.
Make your vote count! Our future generations depend on our wise choices today.
BE INFORMED
Parents for Choice in Education (PCE) has compiled information for over 200 candidates in 16 different school districts in Alberta.
PCE will not promote or endorse any particular candidate, nor tell you how you should vote.
What we will do is urge every Albertan toward:
1. INFORMED decision making
2. ENGAGING in the democratic process
Remember: The individuals elected to trustee positions will govern the direction of our local schools for the next 4 years.
We have provided this resource to make it as easy as possible for you to learn about candidates in your area and select trustees you feel will be responsive to your concerns and represent your values.
Take the time to get to know your candidates and VOTE WISELY. The future of education in Alberta depends on you!
TRUSTEE VOTER GUIDES
**Please note: If you cannot open a Voter Guide, please try another device or a different browser, such as Chrome.
PCE has compiled the following Trustee Voter Guides. To access the Voter Guide for your area, click on the links below:
Lethbridge - Public School District & Holy Spirit Catholic Separate Division
Medicine Hat - Public & Catholic
St. Albert - Public & Greater St. Albert Roman Catholic Separate Schools
Individual Candidate Responses from other districts: Parkland & Chinook’s Edge
Where possible, we have included multiple sources of information in our Voter Guides, including
- links to campaign websites and/or candidate Facebook pages
- candidate profiles and/or videos provided by the school district
- questionnaire responses from PCE and other public surveys as long as the responses allowed for nuanced personal policy perspectives to be shared. We do not consider pledges to fall into this category.
- various relevant news articles
- candidate contact information
If you do not find the specific answers you are looking for after exploring the information available in the Voter Guide then we have provided contact information for the candidates so that voters can reach out directly to them and ask questions.
PCE Questionnaire: All candidates listed in the Voter Guides received our PCE Questionnaire. Those who submitted their response prior to the deadline have their answers included in this resource. We appreciate each candidate who responded honestly, regardless of whether or not their stance is aligned with PCE’s particular advocacy positions.
*NOTE: We provided a clear deadline and multiple reminders for candidates to complete the PCE questionnaire and will not be accepting any further responses to publish on our site. If your candidate missed the deadline and wishes to respond, encourage them to publish a response to the PCE questionnaire on their own personal website/Facebook page. Links to candidate website/Facebook pages are included in our Voter Guide, if available.
For Albertans whose school district is not listed here: search on your school district’s website and look for information related to trustee elections. If you can’t find election information, please contact your district directly and ask them. As a constituent you are entitled access to a list of candidates and should be able to contact them.
SHARE! SHARE! SHARE!
In addition to voting wisely yourself, please communicate to those in your networks and spheres of influence the importance of these elections.
1. Half page flyers
Print and hand out at community gatherings, parent groups, as bulletin inserts and to your neighbors, friends and family. Click on the links below to access and print the different files.
2. Sample email message - CLICK HERE
Copy and paste this message “as is” or modify to send to those in your networks and spheres of influence. Think about people you know who live across Alberta, especially in any of the 16 school districts PCE has compiled.
3. 30 second video advertisement - CLICK HERE
Share on social media and show to larger audiences such as parent groups, etc.
WANT TO DO MORE?
In the final weeks and days before October 16th, candidates will be busy delivering flyers to doorsteps, putting up signs and making phone calls to supporters to remind them to vote.
As you learn about the candidates you may want to lend extra support to one of them, even if they are not in the same specific area or ward. If so, we encourage you to send them an email and let them know you want to help them with their campaign.
Even 1-2 hours of your time before the Oct 16th election can make a tremendous difference as to which candidates will sit on the future board of trustees in your district.
Another way to support a candidate is through financial donations to strengthen their campaign. Look on their website for a DONATE button or send them an email to offer your financial support. *Note: PCE has not, and will not, provide any financial support to any electoral campaign or candidate.