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Alberta Home Education Association

Keep up to date with everything going on in our province!

The ADLC Anomaly

21.09.03.The-ADLC-Anomaly The ADLC Anomaly

History is complicated and the Alberta Distance Learning Center's (ADLC) relationship to home education, now history, is no exception. They started out simply enough, providing print resources (curriculum) to students across the province of Alberta. That simple plan grew over time into a service that provided not only print-based material to distance-learners, but online classes as well. In essence, both methods delivered teacher-directed materials with the possibility of the grades that would be recognized as fulfilling the Alberta Program of Studies, resulting in credits for an Alberta diploma.

Home educators have been told for a long time that this access fit within their home education mandate. This was very true from the sense that a parent could access many teacher resources (curriculum) for free. You actually still can find these government resources on LearnAlberta.ca. This was a boon for those parents who were looking to save money when they purchased their resources for any given year. The subtle shift of becoming a student of a teacher for credits, instead of a home education student that used the Alberta Program of Studies material and then challenged for the credits through a supervising authority, happened over time and without the implications being fully scrutinized by all the parties.

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5 Hot Tips to Make Sure Your Home Education Grant Refund Adds Up

Funding-Manual

There were many updates and improvements to the Funding Manual last year. If you are a home educator that notified with an associate board or associate private (Independent) school, let's make sure that everyone is on the same page to enhance good communication! Here is a summary for reference and where the points are directly addressed in the Funding Manual, Sections C pages 30-31 for associate boards or D pages 59-60 for associate private schools. You can reach out to AHEA if you need any further support.

1.   The parent directed side of the Home Education Grant is exactly $850 - no more and no less. This is tied to the Education Plan receipts that you submit for a refund. (Read this for more details on the Standards for Reimbursement.)

2.   You have two years to use your funds, and this is now mandatory everywhere. It goes without saying that the oldest funds should always be used up first in your records, giving you the most opportunity to utilize funds. This allows for families to plan for a more expensive item that qualifies for reimbursement under the Funding Guide.

(6) An associate board or associate accredited funded private school must offer to the parents of a home education student 50 per cent of the home education funding for the purchase of instructional materials. An associate board or associate accredited funded private school may not reimburse parents of a home education student, whether in a shared responsibility program or not, more than 50 per cent of the home education funding, the reimbursement amount may not exceed $850 per year. Parents have up to two years to access the parental portion of home education funding.

(14) School authorities are not permitted to provide funding, whether by reimbursement, purchase order or direct procurement, to students or families in cases where a student is enrolled in an online or regular school program.

3.   You should receive a 100% refund of your current year's $850 grant portion if you submitted receipts for 75% or more.

1.6 – Home Education and Shared Responsibility Grant
The Home Education Grant supports educational choice for students and parents. For each home education student, the school authority is provided 50 per cent of the funding to support the home education student, and 50 per cent of the funding is provided to the parent and/or guardian as reimbursement for instructional materials and services that support the instructional program at home. Furthermore, parents who submit receipts for at least 75% of eligible expenses will receive the entire $850.00.

4.   If the parent-directed side of the grant remains unused, the Department of Education will claw it back at the end of that time.

(8) If parents decline or do not claim the parent portion of Home Education funding, Alberta Education will recover the unclaimed/declined portion, the year following the previous two year period.

5.   Home education families have the option to donate some or all of their funding to their associate board or associate private (Independent) school if they wish.

(7) Parents will be allowed to transfer some or all of the parental portion of the home education funding to the associate school authority for education supports should they choose to. If parents decide to transfer their funding, they will be required to sign a Parent Declaration Form to facilitate this transfer: (https://www.alberta.ca/assets/documents/edc-home-education-funding-transfer-of-parent-portion-declaration-form.pdf.)

If you have chosen to avail yourself of the Notification Only option for home educators that was offered as of September 2021, you will have No Funding to worry about tracking!

It is so helpful when we work together to keep the funding side of home education functioning in a clean and clear manner.  A big 'Thank You' to all the staff who work so hard with our families to keep things straight and their reimbursements timely. It's great when this topic makes 'cents' to us all!

Opportunity Knocks - Become a Voice for Home Education

21.07.Ministers-Parent-Advisory-Committee

The Minister of Education announced the creation of a Parents Advisory Council last week. This is an exciting opportunity for you to represent the home education perspective to government! To ensure parent consultations are not flooded with special interest voices, this ensures that parents are heard from directly and clearly. You could be one of 40 parents from across the province that serve for a 10 month term, advising the Minister about issues, concerns and opportunities. AHEA would be excited to see even more representation to government from our parents - we have a lot to contribute!

Eligibility guidelines are that you are a p
arent and guardians in Alberta who:

  • has one or more children in Alberta's Kindergarten to Grade 12 education system as of September 1, 2021, and 
  • is an Alberta resident.

More details are available here or on the fact sheet here. You can apply here, which is only 4 questions.

* * * * * * * * * * 

The Teacher Advisory Council also has the ability for home educators to be heard! 

Teachers in Alberta are able to apply online if they meet the following criteria:

  • attained an Alberta teaching certificate – interim or permanent


There are a few more questions, but the key one related to home education is that you declare that is the authority that you teach under, which can be home education. 

The deadline for both is August 31st, 2021.

Let us know if you DO get onto the Minister's Parents  or Teacher Advisory Councils. We'd love to support you!


It's Time - Funding Home Education Children with Special Needs

Its-Time---Children-with-Special-Needs-Funding

Our current government promotes Choice in Education. Funding for children with special needs whose families have chosen Home Education requires examination. Currently, there is no funding for diagnosis and supports for children with diverse learning needs under The Home Education Regulations, The Guide to Education, and the Funding Manual.

AHEA (Alberta Home Education Assoc.) and AHA (Alberta Homeschooling Assoc.) are pleased to work together to survey our supporters. This survey will help us to collaboratively advocate for change in this growing area of home education. If you are a home educating family that has children with special needs, please answer the questions carefully. Thank you in advance for your time.

The survey will be open from November 6th to November 27th – Please ensure that your voice is heard! 

You can complete the survey here.

AHEA’s First Executive Director – An Investment in Our Future

aheas-first-executive-director-an-investment-in-our-future

Today the AHEA Board is pleased and excited to announce it has put into place its first Executive Director. This completes the multi-year work of previous Boards started in 2018 to address the demands on the organizational structure due to its high level of activity on behalf of the home education community. The forward momentum that we have been building will continue with our inviting Shawna Sundal to accept the position of our new Executive Director.

Shawna's giftings and Board experience, coupled with a passion for all things AHEA and a tireless drive to serve, make her well suited for the position. We are confident that she will be able to continue aiding AHEA in capably advocating for the interests of the home educators in Alberta. Please join us in supporting Shawna as our new Executive Director, as AHEA continues the work that we have been doing for 35 years!

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