The Alberta School Board Association (ASBA) says taxpayer dollars should no longer fund private schools.

It all started last week when Edmonton’s public school board voted in favour of lobbying the government to stop funding private schools in order to redirect those dollars to making public schools better.

“When we are looking at the provincial economic climate being as challenging as it is, it’s a fair question to ask whether a quarter of a billion dollars of public dollars should be reallocated to support our publically funded schools,” said Mary Martin, ASBA

Currently there are five provinces that provide public dollars for private schools: B.C., Alberta Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec. Private and charter schools in Alberta will get $233 million this year, and $244 million next year, a jump of 3.4%.

ASBA says that money should be used to help the public system with things like reducing class sizes, providing more support for special needs students and implementing nutritional programs.

But private schools say they actually save the province money.

“They provide operational funding to private schools of roughly $5000 per year, but if that same child went to public school, the operational funding would be around $12,000 per year,” said Dr. Neil Webber, Webber Academy. Webber also says many private schools cater to special needs and are not necessarily lavish or elite.

The Edmonton School Board plans on sending the education minister a letter outlineing their arguments. The minister told CTV there is no plan to change support to private or charter schools at this time.