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Part of New and proposed legislation

Strengthening Alberta’s education system

The Education Amendment Act, 2025, reflected changes in the education landscape and responded to feedback from our partners and Albertans.

Status: The Education Amendment Act, 2025 received Royal Assent on May 15, 2025. 

Ministry responsible: Education and Childcare

Overview

The Education Amendment Act, 2025, (formerly Bill 51) amended the Education Act, which specifies goals for Alberta’s education system and identifies the roles and responsibilities of the ministry, school boards, charter schools, private schools, teachers, parents and students. 

The amendments strengthened transparency, accountability and efficiency in Alberta’s education system.

Key changes

The Education Amendment Act, 2025, made amendments to the Education Act to: 

  • reflect the wide range of programming and school choice independent schools provide for Alberta families by replacing the term ‘private school’ with ‘independent school,’ and all instances of ‘private ECS operator’ with ‘independent ECS operator’
  • strengthen democratic accountability by removing a school board or francophone regional authority’s ability to disqualify an elected trustee over code of conduct breaches, leaving those decisions in the hands of voters
  • clarify and enhance efficiency in the teacher discipline process by:
    • allowing administrators to delegate reporting requirements and other complainant roles
    • eliminating duplicate reporting requirements to decrease administrative burden
    • enabling administrators to be informed about ongoing complaints when a teacher, principal or assistant principal becomes employed by a different school authority
    • clarifying that the chair of the hearing committee may apply to court for an order for compliance when necessary
    • implementing a small fee for complainant appeals that will be set through additional amendments to the Professional Conduct and Competency for Teachers and Teacher Leaders Regulation
  • increase flexibility and alignment with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs by automatically exempting school boards and francophone regional authorities from entering into joint use and planning agreements (JUPAs) with municipalities that are exempt under other legislation
  • align with planned amendments to the Local Authorities Election Act allowing displaced Jasper residents to vote and run in the 2025 and 2026 general elections
  • enable the Ministry of Infrastructure to own new kindergarten to Grade 12 schools and playgrounds and lease them to school boards, francophone school boards and charter schools for operation and maintenance

Next steps

  • Amendments related to school property ownership came into effect on March 27, 2025.
  • Amendments related to voting rights for Jasper residents came into effect on May 1, 2025.
  • Amendments related to private school terminology, teacher discipline and joint use and planning agreements came into effect on September 1, 2025.
  • Amendments related to trustee accountability will come into effect on October 21, 2025.

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