Call to all Albertans, no matter who is voted into power on May 5, we need to take a stand to protect our children education. By this petition , voice your desire to protect the services( funding, testing, special needs) offered to our children and show support to all who work to make the education system ( homeschool facilitators, special needs , speech therapist ,teachers, the list goes on)a better place for our children. Speak up and make a difference!

This petition will go on until election day May 5, 2015. A copy of this petition will then be sent to all Alberta political parties.

For those not familiar with what is going on, this are the concerns we have with the Education cuts as presented in the Alberta 2015 Budget.Budget 2015 calls for a 3% reduction in the Education portfolio. The budget is reimbursing the cost of a 2% adjustment to teachers’ wages that had been previously negotiated. School Boards have been charged with absorbing the cost of new students resulting from population increases and in covering all other associated costs. This is to be done without impacting the number of frontlineteachers. The net impact of these changes will be a drastic cut in funding for education. Moreover, the impact will most acutely impact our most vulnerable learners.

School Boards will be left with no options but to cut positions like educational assistants, consultants, psychologists, assistive/educational technologyspecialists and a range of other valuable staff who focus their efforts on meeting the needs of exceptional learners and students at risk. It is easy to direct school districts to trim administration. However, they have been challenged to do thiswith previous budgets, and it may be argued that there is little “fat to trim.” The cuts in Budget 2015 will impact all children but profoundly those who are our most vulnerable.

We need the Legislative Assembly, to do all that is in their power to ensure that there is adequate funding for education that enables the system to achieve thefollowing:

• Protect education as a human right for all Alberta’s children.

• Ensure that the province is fully compliant with the ruling of the Supreme Courtof Canada in Moore vs. BC (Education) rendered November 2012. In essence,this decision establishes education as a human right in Canada. It further stipulates that education for students with special needs should be of high qualityand of sufficient intensity and duration to meet a student's needs.

• Uphold government policy that has been the outcome of rigorous review and consultation (funded by us as a province) with particular attention to Setting the Direction/Action on Inclusion and the recommendations of the Alberta Learning Commission Failure to appropriately resource education in our province will also lead to significant future costs. Effectively, it is false economy to fail to invest in education. We need to support all learners, particularly those who may be at risk, to become healthy, productive members of our society.

If we do not, then the students who are not supported will place increased demands on our health care system, human services, and income support programs.

You can find this information and much more on the Facebook page: Stop the Education Cuts - Be the VOICE for our Children