On October 18th Albertans have an opportunity to cast their votes and make an impact on Alberta’s education landscape!
To help you vote wisely Parents for Choice in Education (PCE) has compiled information for over 300 candidates in dozens of school districts across the province.
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 informed decision-making and engaging in the democratic process.
Check out the Trustee Voter Guide for your area in the list below, get to know your candidates and ensure that you are voting for someone who will best represent your values.
This is an opportunity that only comes around every four years so make your vote count!
Our future generations depend on our wise choices today.
Step 1: Know your School Authority Jurisdiction.
This map shows the Public Jurisdictions.
This map shows the Separate School Jurisdictions.
This map shows the Francophone Jurisdictions.
Step 2: Know your candidates.
PCE has compiled Trustee Voter Guides for the following 24 school divisions in Alberta.
Where possible, we have included multiple sources of information, including personal websites, social media pages, profiles and videos provided by the school district, various relevant news articles, and responses received to the PCE questionnaire.
*NOTE: We provided a clear deadline 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.
To access the Voter Guide for your area, click on the links below:
Calgary Catholic School Division
Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools
Edmonton Catholic School Division
Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools
Grande Prairie Public School Division
Holy Spirit Catholic (Lethbridge) School Division
Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education
Medicine Hat Public School Division
Peace Wapiti Public School Division
Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools
Red Deer Public School Division
St. Paul Education Regional Division
Wetaskiwin Regional Public Schools
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.
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.
Why are school board trustees important? Who gets to vote for them?
Every four years, during municipal elections, school trustees are elected to govern each of Alberta's 62 public, separate (Catholic) and Francophone school divisions.
School board trustees have many responsibilities, including, but not limited to:
- Establishing the mission, vision, values for the school division
- Setting policies – for example, recent decisions regarding health measures enforced in schools, or whether to keep secrecy policies put in place during the NDP years (most areas of Alberta still have them in place!).
- Managing budgets ranging from multi-millions in some areas to more than one billion dollars each (!) for Calgary & Edmonton - keep in mind this is money paid for directly from taxpayers, with up to 30% of your property tax going directly to the province for education.
- Advocating for local program and facility needs.
- Hiring the superintendent who carries out the operational duties of the board.
Trustees can also have a significant impact on parental choice in education, both within their own school division and beyond.
Even if you have don’t have a child in school, or a child in the public or Catholic school system, all Albertans of voting age get to cast a vote in trustee elections because we all pay taxes to fund the system and all reap the consequences of how it is managed, whether wisely or poorly.
Take the time to get to know your candidates and VOTE WISELY. The future of education in Alberta depends on you!
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.
Print and hand out at community gatherings, parent groups, as bulletin inserts and to your neighbors, friends and family.
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 24 school districts PCE has compiled.
Want to do more?
In the final weeks and days before October 18th, 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 18th 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.