By Troy Gillard (Twitter: @Troy_Gillard)

Private schools without GSA policies risk losing funding: Minister

Nov 14, 2018 | 11:53 AM

The Alberta government says more than two dozen private schools in the province will lose their taxpayer-funded, per-student grant for the next school year if they don’t comply with its legislation on gay-straight alliances.

Education Minister Dave Eggen says 28 of 94 accredited, funded private school authorities have still not met the law’s requirements.

As a result, he’s issued a ministerial order that calls for the institutions to publicly post their GSA policies in a prominent spot on their websites.

“These school authorities must comply with the ministerial order, or they will lose their taxpayer-funded, per-student grant for the 2019-20 school year,” Eggen said in a statement. “I sincerely hope that we will not need to take this step. But I have been clear: Following this law is not optional. Ensuring vulnerable children feel safe and included at school is not optional. Not in today’s Alberta. And not when you receive as much as 70 per cent of your funding from taxpayers, as private schools in our province do.”

Under the rules, all of Alberta’s public, Catholic, francophone, charter and private schools must approve a student’s request to start an alliance, and they are not allowed to tell parents when their child joins one.

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Koinonia Christian School in Red Deer has yet to comply with the GSA requirements.

Other local schools who have yet to comply include Lacombe Christian School, Central Alberta Christian High School (Lacombe), Ponoka Christian School, Rimbey Christian School, Living Truth Christian School in Mirror and Lighthouse Christian Academy in Sylvan Lake.

Destiny Christian School in Red Deer has updated its GSA policies to comply with the provincial requirements. 

Koinonia and Destiny were among 26 Alberta faith-based schools who were part of a legal challenge against the province’s GSA requirements filed by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms. 

(With file from The Canadian Press)