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“Parents need to be engaged in their kids’ lives, they need the time to talk with them, with their teachers, and get involved in their school activities.

Photo by Darren Makowichuk/Postmedia

Since the funding injection to St. Peter School, the province has said it would roll out plans for more funding in the coming weeks, but schools are still waiting.

Silva said she reached out to Education Minister David Eggen before Christmas but did not hear back for several weeks. When she did, Silva said there was essentially no new information and “it was really just a whole lot of nothing.”

Eggen’s office confirmed this week the province is reviewing about 80 submissions for playground funding from across the province, but no decision has been made yet on how much may be available heading into an election year.

“Our government believes playgrounds are extremely important to local communities and that is why we are funding them to make life better and more affordable for Albertans,” Eggen said in an emailed statement.

Last June, the province announced $20 million in funding to ensure all newly built K-6 schools would get playgrounds. Under the program, new elementary schools were eligible for grants of $250,000 retroactive to 2014.

But schools announced before then were not eligible, meaning several new suburban schools like Copperfield have not received any funding and remain without playgrounds.

Silva argues that as the province heads closer to an expected spring election call, politicians need to consider a completely new funding model for schools, where funding goes to all schools equally instead of each student on a per capita basis.

“If we ensure each school has what every other school has, we won’t need to fundraise,” Silva said, adding that while the idea may require increased taxes, parent fundraising is also a personal cost.

“Think of all the money parents put into school fundraisers over the 12 years their kids are in schools, and redirect that into quality education across the board.

“It would mean more resources to all schools, and to all schools equally.”

eferguson@postmedia.com