The Alberta Ministry of Education has approved its first tuition-free public charter school focused on classical education.
The ministry announced Tuesday that the Calgary Classical Academy will offer classes from kindergarten to Grade 6 starting in the 2022/2023 school year, with middle and high school classes to be offered soon after.
According to the ministry’s press release, the Calgary Classical Academy will consist of a liberal arts education emphasizing “the knowledge, virtues and habits befitting free citizens.”
As a tuition-free charter school, it will be “the first public non-denominational classical education program in Canada.”
Students attending the school will “benefit from a knowledge-rich curriculum that is highly integrated across grade levels and disciplines.” Students will study classic works of literature, philosophy, arts and sciences from around the world “so that they may benefit from the wisdom of the past and preserve and build upon it for posterity.”
“A classical education prepares young people for both citizenship and the workforce, but more importantly, its purpose is to cultivate virtue, a sense of wonder, intellectual integrity and a love of wisdom,” said Calgary Classical Academy superintendent-designate John Picard.
Alberta education minister Adriana LaGrange said the government is committed to letting parents choose the type of education that is best for their children.
“Our government is proud to maintain this long and successful tradition of supporting school choice, which is why we introduced the Choice in Education Act,” said LaGrange. “I’m very pleased that Calgary parents will now have an additional option of sending their children to a new charter school that offers a classical education program unique to Alberta.”
The ministry added that the Calgary Classical Academy has begun recruiting teachers and will soon be accepting applications for students. Consultations to find a building for the school are reportedly ongoing.
A report from the Association for Reformed Political Action Canada published in February 2021 called on provincial education systems to be more diverse.
The report argued that provinces should make it easier for parents to opt for private and home schools and should not have to pay for the public system if their children do not use it.
