Since October of 2018, "Together for Students" has lobbied for a unified publicly funded school system.

This would eliminate the Catholic school system, which Campaign Chair Pat Cochrane says would provide more funding and allow schooling to be more focused.

"In Alberta, it's "per-pupil funding" for students, so you get money according to how many students you have in your building. So if you were to combine these various systems into larger groupings, the kids themselves have more opportunities for different kinds of learning."

Together for Students claims a merge would bring focus for the school system, and could still respect parent's right of choice while being more cost effective.

Cochrane says Together for Students wants to put students first.

"I think the summary statement is that if we combine our resources, we can do better by our students than we are doing right now; that the focus needs to be on what is best for students, not what is best for systems or organizations. So we want to have that conversation."

The movement has been met with some resistance, most recently from Christ the Redeemer Catholic Schools, who have created a petition, saying a merge would eliminate choice for parents.

 

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