The following message was distributed to the education sector earlier this afternoon. For the past eighteen months, the education sector has engaged in many conversations about the future of learning in our province. The five year agreement between the Government of Alberta and the Alberta Teacher's Association, subsequently effected in part by collective agreements between school boards and ATA locals, created a clear time frame where work like Inspiring Education could happen without the...

Mr. Griffiths: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was driving into the city the other day, and I saw a Strathcona county school bus with a big sign on the back advertising Elk Island school division. I've seen other school divisions advertising on billboards and TV. To the Minister of Education: given the need for accountability why in these tight fiscal times are school boards spending precious educa­tion dollars on advertising rather than on students...

Mr. VanderBurg: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Within Whitecourt-Ste. Anne Northern Gateway school division spans nearly 375 kilometres from end to end, further than the distance between Edmonton and Calgary. Each day 4,000 students in this division are transported over 12,000 kilometres. My questions are all to the Minister of Education. Pembina Hills school division receives $64 per weighted passenger more than Northern Gateway. They have fewer square kilometres, fewer weighted passengers, fewer routes, and...

Mr. Chase: Mr. Speaker, funding cutbacks are causing boards to eliminate segregated programs for special-needs students. This government's flawed school closure process has targeted a school for complex learners in Calgary-Varsity. With concerns growing, the government can only gesture to a review of special education two years in the making. Parents, students, teachers, and staff need answers now. To the minister: what does the minister have to say to parents concerned that special-needs students...

Mr. Bhullar: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Many of the world's leading educational thinkers believe that education systems around North America are systematically draining creativity out of our children by focusing on standardized curriculum, standardized instruction, and standardized testing. To the Minister of Education: what is your department doing to ensure our system is developing and building upon the natural ability and passion of our students? Mr. Hancock: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A...

Mr. Mason: Thanks very much, Mr. Speaker. The town of Beaumont is rapidly growing, and their school can't keep up. They've lost their music and computer rooms to provide more classroom space, and they have one portable, but their school still is far too small. Now, grade 3 students carry their desks across the street every day to a fully liquor licensed facility, Club Beaumont, which they are using as classroom space. Why has...

Dr. Swann: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. This government constantly boasts about how much better off Alberta is in weathering the recession while refusing to honour teacher contracts, repair aging schools, or adequately support special-needs education. To the Minister of Education: if this government isn't willing to carry out its educational obligations such as bargaining in good faith with our teachers, will you at least provide greater autonomy to locally elected schools boards...

Mr. Anderson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Rocky View school division and especially the city of Airdrie are at a crisis point with regard to school infrastructure. Airdrie students are holding math classes in the library, the gym, and in some instances in the hall­ways. Trustees are even considering busing kids into soon-to-be­closed inner-city Calgary schools. The division is now begging for $5 million for 20 new portables to make a secondary temporary portable...

Mr. Bhardwaj: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. After engaging over 7,000 Albertans, the Setting the Direction for Special Education final report was submitted to the minister over 10 months ago, yet we still have not heard any response from the government. To the Minister of Education: is the delay in the government response an indication that you're backing away from a commitment to a truly supportive and inclusive education system that Albertans obviously...

Mr. Chase: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government abandoned its commitment to fund a five-year agreement with teachers. Now, with the 2010-11 academic year approaching and no extra money for teachers' salaries on the table, school boards, students, and families are about to feel the crunch. To the minister: with the Calgary board of education considering eliminating 150 positions to cover its $21 million shortfall, what plans does the minister have to prevent layoffs?...

Mr. Boutilier: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wasn't sure if . . . [interjection] To the person across the way who said, "Quack, quack," you look like a duck. Having said that, I spoke to students today from my constituency, three high school students. We've heard the government say that education is an investment, not an expense. As a follow-up, schools are being closed, programs are being cut, yet there's a contradiction: the government...

Mr. Mason: Thanks very much, Mr. Speaker. Parkdale, McCauley, Eastwood, Fulton Place, and Capilano schools are five schools that are on the chopping block tonight. At the same time, the Edmonton public school board is not getting any new resources to support the six schools that they are opening this September. The government is forcing school boards to shift resources from older schools to new ones. I want to ask the Minister of Education...

Mr. Allred: Mr. Speaker, one of the best ways to enhance Alberta's competitiveness is to maintain our world-leading standing in education. Other countries recognize the extraordinary importance that education will play in their economic future, and their students are leaping ahead of Alberta students. I was pleased the other evening to go to hear an educational consultant from Finland speak in St. Albert. To the Minister of Education. Finland has what is, very simply,...

Ms Woo-Paw: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Statistics Canada is projecting rapid changes to our population over the next 20 years. Major growth areas would include the aboriginal population, and it's projected that about one-third of Canada's population would be a visible minority. Learning about effective integration and develop­ment of inclusive communities speaks to the need for two-way integration. My question is to the Minister of Education. You have initiated the Inspiring Education visioning process,...

Ms Pastoor: Mr. Speaker, in 2007 this government signed an agreement with the Alberta teachers. At the time the Premier wrote to ATA, "I pledge to seek the Legislative Assembly's support for the necessary funding to enable the Memorandum of Agreement's full execution." Now the government is sending mixed signals about its willingness to live up to the agreement on teachers' wages, and school boards are more than concerned that they soon will be...

Ms DeLong: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Education has spoken publicly in this Legislature of the importance of having community services integrated in schools and schools being integrated into the community, yet schools are still being closed in the inner city. The school boards are saying that it's the province that's pressuring them to close. My question is to the Minister of Education. What Alberta Department of Education legislation or...

Mr. Chase: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again the Minister of Education has catered, cratered to the competitive ideology of the Fraser Institute by releasing standardized test scores from across the province, which have a more punitive than celebratory effect. To the minister: what motivational value or educational relevance does publicizing test results given at the end of the previous year for students who have left their division have for either students, teachers, or...

Mr. MacDonald: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Early in May officials from Alberta Education will present to school board chairpersons and school superintendents the province's new provincial school utilization rate. These changes are a very long time in coming, and I would like to thank the hon. Minister of Education for coming forward with these new provincial utilization rates. [some applause] It's certainly about time. Now, my first question is to the Minister...

Mr. Benito: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Education. There is a large backlog in deferred maintenance of schools, and with classroom space becoming critical in some areas of the province, what is the minister planning to do to address the student space issue and the maintenance backlog when there are no new projects in the 2010-11 budget?...

Mr. Chase: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Waves of potential school closures are washing over communities in Edmonton and Calgary, but this government is looking the other way, claiming that the decisions are for the school boards to make. The truth is that, yes, city core neighbourhoods are losing students to the suburbs, but provincial policies are making the situation worse. To the minister: how are municipalities supposed to keep families in the city core...