EDMONTON - The NDP government announcement reversing unpopular education cuts is a signal of what’s to come for education in Alberta, says the province’s new education minister.

David Eggen said he will work in his new role to give school boards “a sense of security and stability” so they can make longer-term plans that strengthen Alberta’s K-12 education system.

Eggen, a former Edmonton public school teacher, said he will get to work implementing his party’s campaign promises. That includes providing stable, predictable funding for school boards, reducing school fees for essential services such as lunch supervision, phasing in full-day kindergarten, and phasing in a school lunch program.

The Journal asked Eggen about his priorities for the education portfolio.

Q: What can Albertans expect to see from you in the coming months?

A: I think that our announcement (Thursday) is a reflection of this new government’s commitment to education, and to ensure that we keep our promises to fulfil our most basic requirements as a government, which is to look after the health, education and well-being of all Albertans. I hope this might foster a sense of optimism for the immediate future.

Q: Can you tell me what the next steps will be in reducing mandatory school fees?

A: It’s clear to me as a parent and former teacher myself that school fees can interfere with some individuals’ ability to access education. School fees are not meant to fund the basics ... Some boards have protected their families very well and swallowed a lot of costs and in other jurisdictions you see quite high school fees. Certainly, we had a campaign promise to actually halve school fees, so we have to know what that half is actually going to look like. So I have a ministerial group within the department of education looking at that now.

Q: The NDP has also talked about moving toward funding all-day kindergarten. How quickly could that be done and would it be done across the province or in high-needs areas?

A: I am already signalling to school authorities, parents and communities, that we’re interested in doing this and looking for a way we can target possible pilots ... Space is precious in so many areas with existing programs, and of course the other issue is money. We’re in a relatively unstable economic situation across the province and we want to make sure that we have money to pay for programs that are a priority for Albertans.

Q: One of the other issues the NDP talked about during the election campaign was creating a school lunch program. Can you tell me what that would look like and how quickly you could put something in place?

A: This is a very exciting initiative, I think, that rose from popular opinion. We know that all kids could benefit from school nutrition programs in the broadest possible way and from school lunch programs targeting areas that might benefit the most, just like full-day kindergarten, and expanding out from there ... Again, I have a department of education group that will start looking at this and will start looking for places to pilot this very soon.

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