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Alberta should amalgamate its public and Catholic school boards into one publicly funded system, a former education minister said.

David King, who was a Progressive Conservative education minister from 1979 to 1986, has launched an online campaign proposing the merger and to seek like-minded supporters. He calls it IDEA: Inclusive, Diverse Education for All.

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“Why is there aprivilege for one faith community when there should be privilege for no faith community?” King said in an interview Wednesday.

Maintaining Catholic and public school boards in the same cities and towns with public funds is inefficient and costly, he said. Buses are driving down the same streets to collect neighbours, then deliver them to schools across the field from one another. In some older neighbourhoods, school boards are losing money heating and powering two half-empty buildings. Two school board administrations with handsomely compensated superintendents oversee the two overlapping districts, he said.