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The province will follow through on a plan to cut funding to 28 private schools if they fail to publicly post policies affirming the rights of LGBTQ students, says Education Minister David Eggen.

“I have been clear. Following this law is not optional,” he said at a Wednesday news conference at the legislature, adding there are about 4,000 students in the non-compliant schools.

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Eggen warned in August that schools failing to comply with new rules would lose public funding by the end of the 2018-19 school year. In total, the schools receive about $32.5 million from the province.

The move related to cementing a student’s right to start a gay-straight alliance support group. As of April, the rules outlined in Alberta’s School Act applied to all public, Catholic, francophone, charter and private schools in the province.

The NDP tabled Bill 24 in November 2017 to require all Alberta schools to adopt policies affirming the charter and human rights of students and staff, along with privacy rights. Schools also had to post those policies on their websites in a “prominent” location before this past June 30.