Alberta charter schools are a special type of public school which have a greater degree of autonomy than normal public schools, allowing them to offer unique programs that are not available through regular public schools. Charter school boards report directly to the province, bypassing their local school districts.
As of 2022-23, roughly 11,000 students were enrolled in charter schools (1.4% of total student population), compared to 508,478 in public schools (66.3%), 177,633 in separate schools (23.1%), and 40,676 in private schools (5.3%).
Alberta charter schools are publicly-funded institutions that must be incorporated as either non-profit societies or as not-for-profit companies. According to Alberta's Education Act, Charter schools cannot be affiliated with a religious faith or denomination, cannot charge tuition for any Alberta resident students, and cannot operate on a for-profit basis. Teachers must be certificated, but may not necessarily be members of the Alberta Teachers Association union. However, many Charter schools are associate members of the ATA and pay regular union dues (for example: Almadina School Society, Aurora Academic Charter School Limited, Boyle Street Education Centre, and New Horizons Charter School Society) . Moreover, while charters must follow the approved provincial curriculum, they can adopt unique philosophical or pedagogical approaches to their program delivery. Alberta remains the only province in Canada that allows charter schools.
Supporters claim that charter schools offer greater freedom in choice of education for families, allowing them to choose schooling that better reflects their students' interests, aptitudes, or needs, or that more closely aligns with the family's values. They also claim that charter schools improve the public education system through increased accountability, modelling and sharing educational best practices, and by challenging the monopolistic control of local district boards. By contrast, critics have argued that charter schools undermine the public education system by producing separate and segregated educational systems, and by siphoning off students â and the funding that follows them â from regular public schools. Others have argued that charter schools have historically been underfunded relative to other public schools, potentially diminishing the quality of education received by their pupils and establishing a precedent that schools should "do more with less."
Several charter schools are collectively represented by The Association of Alberta Public Charter Schools (TAAPCS).
Alberta first passed legislation allowing charter schools in 1994, three years after the first charter school opened in the United States in Minnesota. Initially, the number of charters was capped at 15 province-wide, and student enrolment numbers were likewise limited. These restrictions were lifted in September 2020.
As of July 2024, there are 37 approved charter schools operated by 22 authorities.
Three charter school have closed: