Remember to lodge your registration with a willing school board if you expect your child to receive funding in this province for the 2006/2007 school year.  The date on which all registrations are calculated is September 30th which means effectively you need to have registered your child with a school board by September 29th 2006.

There have been some recent changes in the way programs are delivered by private school boards.  Private school boards are no longer at liberty to offer a blended program.  Alberta Education has altered the way in which private school boards operate and now allow them to only offer homeschooling programs (which is commonly known as Traditional) AND teacher led programs.  Private school boards are no longer able to offer blended programs.  Just as in the past with blended programs the teacher led programs are meant to attract higher amounts of funding as one is then basically following the Alberta Programme of Studies at home. 

Some private school boards who offer classes are allegedly offering 'free' services/classes in lieu of the child's full entitlement.  Parents are at liberty to reject or accept these offers.  In my opinion, however, it is unreasonable under these circumstances to expect that a child's full entitlement is traded off in this way.  The services/classes are then in effect being paid for twice.  The services/classes are not then free. And what if there aren't any services/classes that the child is truly interested in.  Too bad!  The school board has gained from that situation already as the full amount of the child's funding has not left the school board's bank account.

In terms of blended programs, the new rules allow that only school boards which come under the public school system (which may include some Catholic boards also) are at liberty to offer blended programs.  Blended programs are those in which some of the program is created/delivered and assessed by the parent and the remainder of the program is created/delivered and assessed by the teacher.  There are a variety of percentages on offer eg. 25/75, 50/50 etc on offer depending on which PUBLIC school board one selects. 

There may be some school boards that do not fit neatly in the private school board sector and may be classified in amongst public school boards.  Some Catholic boards fit this category.  There may be others.  Make sure you check what category your school board falls under if you have any questions regarding your program and the funding structure you are being offered. 

This information is not comprehensive to include every school board in this province and therefore is not designed to offer legal or legislative advice.  Please check the details of your particular situation BEFORE you make your final board selection decisions.  Remember that even if you have already registered for one board you are at liberty to register with a different one as long as the new board receives your registration by September 29th 2006.