As if there weren’t enough drama in Alberta’s education sphere this week, the latest development is demonizing independent schools. Against the backdrop of a teacher’s strike that has cancelled classes for nearly 740,000 kids in the province’s public, Catholic, and francophone schools, a citizen’s initiative petition has been launched that seeks a referendum on whether Alberta should eliminate provincial funding for independent schools. Yanking funding from others would do nothing to improve the lot of overcrowded neighbourhood schools but it would certainly hurt Alberta kids.

The vast majority of Alberta independent schools don’t live up to the strawman stereotypes their opponents present. Ninety-one percent are schools like Lighthouse Christian Academy, which is committed to serving all students from its community, whether they’re from other faiths or have learning challenges; or Calgary Quest School, which parents created to meet the unique learning needs of students with moderate to severe developmental disabilities.

Fewer than nine per cent of Alberta’s 180 independent schools qualify as “top-tier” with competitive admission processes, elite facilities, and high tuition. Most independent school parents are not CEOs. They’re much more likely to be nurses, farmers or teachers and people with below-average household incomes.

But ending independent school funding wouldn’t just hurt these families. It would also hurt every other Alberta student.

There are just over 48,000 students in Alberta’s independent schools. The province gives these schools the equivalent of 70 per cent of the per-student funding it gives to public schools for operating costs. So, independent schools receive $9,446 per student per year instead of $13,494. Were their public funding to disappear, independent schools would be forced to cover all their costs in another way, likely by hiking tuition fees. In this scenario, it’s not difficult to imagine that independent school tuition could easily double overnight, pricing many families out. If only half of these students’ families could afford the higher tuition, that would mean 24,000 kids flooding into public, Catholic, and francophone schools.

That’s a recipe for chaos, which is what the U.K. has experienced since the Starmer government subjected independent school tuition to the country’s 20 per cent tax value-added tax. Many British independent schools have closed, with thousands of students forced into already overcrowded public schools.

How would Alberta accommodate a sudden influx of public-school students? We’d need at least 24 new schools each accommodating 1,000 children. That would be a 24 per cent increase on the 100 school builds and renovations already planned for the next seven years just to manage existing overcrowding. With schools costing $40 million on average to build, the bill would be almost $1 billion.

Forcing students out of independent schools and into neighbourhood schools would also make it doubly difficult to achieve the teachers’ union call for a class size cap. And taxpayers would be hit hard. Yes, the 70 per cent per-student funding that independent school kids get could be redirected to public schools. But then there’s the extra 30 per cent — so fully funding an extra 24,000 will require another $97.2 million from taxpayers.

Alberta’s funding for students at independent schools is well within international norms. If anything, the province funds fewer educational options and at lower rates than many global counterparts. The Netherlands supports 36 different types of schools. In Singapore, a variety of school types are funded in recognition of its multi-ethnic society. Australia’s national government has stepped in to fund independent schools up to 90 per cent because they’ve proved so effective at closing achievement gaps across socio-economic lines.

Few countries have a single, uniform schooling system. Brazil does. It’s 52nd in the latest international reading scores. So do Latvia (27^th) and Mexico (49^th). As for Canada’s non-uniform system, we’re in eighth place. And when sub-national jurisdictions are considered, Alberta ranks second, right behind Singapore.

Albertans are Albertans, no matter which school they attend. Independent schools, which benefit everyone, are an equal and crucial element of Alberta’s education ecosystem. Let’s not hurt any students by demonizing their schools or trying to shutter them. Instead, let’s have a factual, solution-oriented discussion on how to make education better for everyone.

• Catharine Kavanagh is western stakeholder director for Cardus.