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“David Eggen has been targeting Christian education and home-schooling since he came into office. A critical spectator would have to surmise that the revocation of accreditation has more to do with personal politics than the financial accountability of the association,” Soos wrote in the petition’s description.

In an interview, Soos said Eggen’s move was heavy-handed for the degree of alleged mismanagement. It has sparked fear among other religious schools and home-schooling societies they could be under attack, he said.

If the claims are legitimate, Eggen should call a public inquiry, he said.

For more than two decades, Trinity Christian School Association has subcontracted Wisdom Home Schooling of Derwent, Alta., to run its home-schooling program. With families involved from High Level to Lethbridge, it is the largest privately run such association in Alberta, with a third of the province’s students who are home schooled.

All parents who home school their children must register with a public or private board of their choice, which sends teachers to check on their lesson plans twice a year, and reimburses them for educational expenses.

The government gave Trinity Christian nearly $5.4 million in public funds last year, almost all of which was passed directly to Wisdom, says an Alberta Education report prepared during a summer investigation.