Petition to stop funding Alberta private schools falls far short on signatures

CALGARY — The citizen initiative petition, which proposed ending public funding to Alberta's private schools, does not have enough signatures to move forward."Over the last 120 days, we were able to collect 123,006 signatures for Alberta Funds Public Schools (AFPS)," stated Alicia Taylor, who submitted the proposal, at a press conference on Wednesday announcing the results.AFPS is the name of the petition organizers."While this petition didn't reach the requirement to initiate a referendum, I encourage our volunteers and others to stay engaged. Keep having conversations to help fight misinformation," Taylor later stated. "Write your MLA, participate in citizen initiatives, collect signatures for recall petitions, get involved in any level of government or in a political party, and ask candidates about their plans for public education during our next election.".Tuesday was the last day to collect signatures.They needed 177,732 signatures; as of the last day, they were currently 54,726 signatures short.This was not enough to invoke any sort of policy proposal to be considered by the Legislative Assembly.If the petition did get enough signatures, its proposal would be given to Alberta's Legislative Assembly..Within 10 sitting days, the proposal would then be tabled, and a motion on the proposal would be introduced to a committee of MLAs.Alicia Taylor submitted the proposal under Section 2(3) of the Citizen Initiative Act, which allows Canadian citizens to submit proposals in the form of questions to change either legislation or the Constitution.Taylor's proposed question was: "Should the Government of Alberta end its current practice of allocating public funds to accredited independent (private) schools?"Taylor is a district representative for Alberta's public teacher union, the Alberta Teachers Association (ATA), and according to her LinkedIn, she works as a teacher for the Calgary Board of Education..In January, the Alberta Funds Public Schools (AFPS), what the petition organizers call themselves, even advertised on Facebook with one petition signing location being the ATA offices in Calgary.In another Facebook post, dated January 20, the ATA reposted the signature locations, adding, "Please support!! Signatures are still needed!"AFPS announced on their Facebook last Sunday was the last day to sign their petition. The results announced Wednesday are AFPS self-reported signatures.

Petition to stop funding Alberta private schools falls far short on signatures

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