Alberta charter schools are a special type of public schools which have a greater degree of autonomy than a normal public school, to allow them to offer programs that are significantly different from regular public schools operated by district school boards. Charter schools report directly to the province, bypassing their local district school board, may not exceed their assigned quota of students without provincial permission, and are currently limited to fifteen schools. Alberta charter schools are publicly funded and the school associations must be non-profit societies. The charter schools cannot have a religious affiliation, cannot charge tuition, and cannot operate on a for-profit basis. The teachers must be certified, and the curriculum must follow the approved provincial curriculum.

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

, which passed enabling legislation in 1994, is the only province in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

to have charter schools.

Charter schools

Current charters

There are 24 charter school campuses operated by 14 schools. The number of charter schools was limited to a maximum of 15, but the Provincial government eliminated this cap effective September 2020.

Former charters

Three charter school have closed: *The Global Learning Academy, in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

, was granted a charter in 1996, and with 480 students was the largest charter school in the province. However, mismanagement and financial problems resulted in the suspension of its founding principal in December 1997, the replacement of its board of directors with a trustee in January 1998, and the revocation of the school's charter before the start of the 1998–1999 school year. *The Moberly Hall Charter School, the only charter school hosted by a Roman Catholic school board, operated in

Fort McMurray Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significan ...

from 1997 to 2007 before voluntarily closing because of declining enrollment and rising costs. *The Mundare Charter School was established in

Mundare Mundare is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is approximately east of Edmonton at the intersection of Highway 15 and Highway 855, north of the Yellowhead Highway. The Canadian National Railway tracks run through the town. Beaverhill Lake ...

by parents in 1997 when the town's elementary/junior high school closed, but operated for only one year. It was absorbed into the local public school board as an alternative elementary school after low enrollment resulted in financial difficulty.

References

{{reflist * Education in Alberta