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Part of K to 12 education

Parent supports during school closure

Schools welcomed students back to class on October 29. All temporary supports have ended and Parent Payment Program applications are closed.

Overview

Alberta’s government introduced  temporary supports to help minimize disruption and ease costs for families impacted by October 2025 school closures.

Labour action ended and schools reopened on October 29.

With students now back at school, temporary support programs have ended.

Parent Payment Program

Alberta’s government introduced the Parent Payment Program during labour action to help ease the extra costs families faced while schools were closed. The program was open to all parents and guardians of students aged 12 and under who attend a public, Catholic or francophone school affected by the disruption.

The Parent Payment Program has now closed. Applications received on or before December 1 will continue to be processed. The next parent payment will be issued on December 19.

For additional information about the program, completing your open application, the payment process and future payment dates, see Parent Payment Program Help & Support.

Support for children with disabilities

Additional financial support was available for families of children aged 5–17 with active Family Support for Children with Disabilities (FSCD) agreements, who were affected by labour action. This support was provided through the Parent Payment Program. Parents were asked to provide their FSCD File number (if applicable) when applying for the program. The additional funds were automatically added to eligible parent’s payments.

Changes to provincial assessment

Fall 2025

In response to labour action, November 2025 diploma exams were made optional. Students who chose not to write the November diploma exams can still complete their courses and graduate on time. Their final grade will be based entirely on the school-awarded mark provided by their teacher.

Choosing not to write the November diploma exams will not affect a student’s ability to apply to, be accepted by, or attend post-secondary institutions after graduation.

Winter 2026

January 2026 diploma examinations and Grade 9 Provincial Achievement Tests have been cancelled. Students will be automatically exempted from writing assessments in January.

If they choose, a student may write their January diploma exam in April or June 2026. Students who choose not to write at a later date will receive their school-awarded mark as their final official course mark. A notation will be added to student transcripts confirming that no diploma exam was written. This ensures there is no impact on students’ ability to graduate or transition into post-secondary programs. Alberta’s post-secondary institutions have been notified and will continue to accept school-awarded marks as final grades.

Spring 2026

Spring 2026 Provincial Achievement Tests (PATs) and diploma exams we will take place as planned.

Changes to school calendars

School authorities have the authority and flexibility to adjust their school calendars as needed. While school authorities are not required to make up instructional days lost to labour action, they must meet all student learning outcomes for the 2025/26 school year.

Some school authorities may choose to adjust their calendars to make up lost instructional time, while others may determine they can meet learning outcomes without making changes to their schedules. School authorities will communicate any changes to their school calendar to families directly.

Please contact your child’s school if you have any questions regarding learning outcomes, instructional days or calendar changes.

Parent resources

  • Parent toolkit

    To give families flexibility during the labour disruption, Alberta Education and Childcare created a free toolkit that parents could use to help support their child’s independent learning. The toolkit provided weekly resources based on the K to 12 curriculum and were available for English, francophone and French Immersion students.

    With classes back in session, the toolkit will not receive any further updates but will remain available on the new LearnAlberta.

  • Child care subsidy

    To ease the financial burden on families who required additional hours of child care during school closures, government increased October subsidy rates for eligible children in grades 1 to 6 who attend licensed out-of-school care full time.  

    Subsidy rates returned to normal when schools reopened on October 29, 2025.

  • Family programming

    To provide further opportunities for continued learning, Alberta’s provincial heritage sites and museums offered free admission for all Albertans aged 18 and under during labour action. This program ended when students returned to school on October 29, 2025.

  • Distance education

    To provide continued access to learning and offer students more flexibility, the 10-credit per year limit on non-primary distance education was temporarily lifted. This allowed students in grades 10 to 12 to keep earning credits during the labour disruption. Students could enrol in distance learning with an independent school, while remaining enrolled at their primary school authority.  

    Now that labour action has ended, students who enrolled in distance education can finish those courses while returning to their regular school. 

  • Home education

    Some parents chose to enrol their child in a home education program with a supervising independent school during labour action. 

    Students who enrolled in a home education program during school closures were not guaranteed a spot at the school they attended once labour action resolved. 

    Parents who enrolled their child in home education but would like the student to return to school should contact their local school authority for details.

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