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A grassroots United Conservative Party policy proposal suggesting Alberta adopt an American-style school voucher system would be “dangerous” for publicly funded schools in the province, says the Opposition.

There’s fear that the government’s upcoming “Choice in Education Act,” to be tabled next spring, will propose a voucher system in which public funding would follow the student to whichever school they choose, NDP education critic Sarah Hoffman said Tuesday.

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As education funding is set to remain flat for the next four years, vouchers would give private schools a larger slice of the pie at the expense of public schools, Hoffman said.

“I don’t think we look to the U.S. for inspiration on how to run public health care or public education,” she said.

She called on Premier Jason Kenney to promise Alberta would steer clear of vouchers.

Right now, most Alberta private schools receive 70 per cent of the funding per student as public, Catholic, Francophone and charter schools. Alberta funds private schools at a higher rate than any other province, with $290.7 million allotted in 2019-20.