Alberta Introduces Bill 35 to Strengthen Transparency and Accountability in Education and Childcare
【CMHnews Post】The Alberta government is proposing new legislative measures to strengthen transparency and accountability across the province’s education and childcare systems, with a focus on keeping parents better informed about their children’s learning, safety and care.
The proposed changes were discussed at a virtual Multicultural Media Roundtable with the Honourable Demetrios Nicolaides, Minister of Education and Childcare, on November 2, 2026. The discussion focused on Bill 35, the Education and Childcare (Securing Parental Involvement) Statutes Amendment Act, 2026, introduced on October 29.
The bill proposes amendments to both the Education Act and the Early Learning and Child Care Act, addressing school reporting standards, parent concerns, childcare licensing oversight and the disclosure of safety incidents.
Education: More Consistent Reporting and Clearer Processes for Parents
Under the proposed amendments to the Education Act, the Minister of Education and Childcare would be authorized to establish province wide standards for student report cards. The goal is to provide families with clearer and more consistent information about student progress and achievement, while allowing individual school boards to continue determining the format and method of distribution.
The legislation would also require school authorities to publicly disclose information about activities conducted on Professional Development (PD) days and other non-instructional operational days. The information would have to be published within 60 calendar days after each such day, giving parents greater insight into how these days are used to support student learning.
Another proposed change would require school boards to establish processes for receiving and addressing parent concerns that remain unresolved through existing school-level procedures. Parents would continue to raise concerns through established school and school-board channels, with school boards retaining responsibility for resolving individual cases. The provincial government also plans to develop an online tool to help families navigate concerns and assist the government in identifying emerging issues across the province.
In addition, public school boards would need provincial approval before initiating the naming or renaming process for schools in facilities they own. Once approval is granted, boards could proceed with local consultation and decision-making.
Childcare: Stronger Oversight and Greater Disclosure of Safety Concerns
The proposed amendments to the Early Learning and Child Care Act would give the provincial government additional tools to oversee licensed childcare providers and strengthen protections for children.
Under Bill 35, the government would be able to consider an applicant’s experience, financial capacity and compliance history with other regulatory bodies when deciding whether to issue or renew a childcare licence. The changes are intended to help identify potential risks before a licence is granted or renewed.
The legislation would also strengthen oversight of early childhood educator certification by allowing the government to introduce conditions such as certification expiry dates and renewal requirements. This would help the department maintain more current information about the qualifications of childcare professionals.
The proposed legislation would further require licensed facility-based and home-based childcare providers to notify all families of significant compliance issues and enforcement actions, including administrative penalties and changes to, or additional conditions on, their licences.
In cases involving serious incidents that require a safety plan approved by the provincial childcare licensing authority, providers would be required to make the safety plan available to parents and notify families through channels such as email or mobile applications.
If a provider is unable or unwilling to notify families, the provincial government would have the authority to issue notifications directly. The legislation would also allow online inspections or monitoring in limited circumstances when an in-person inspection cannot be conducted immediately.
The government emphasized that not every serious incident would result in notification to all families. Each situation would be assessed individually, taking into account privacy considerations and the potential impact on ongoing investigations.
According to the provincial government, Alberta’s licensed childcare system currently serves more than 145,000 children. More than 67,000 childcare spaces have been added since 2021.
Expanding School Capacity Across Alberta
In addition to the proposed legislation, the roundtable discussion addressed the province’s efforts to expand school capacity in response to growing enrolment.
The Alberta government has announced $25.8 million through its Independent School Capital Program pilot to support six independent school projects across the province. The projects are expected to create more than 3,500 student spaces.
The pilot is intended to explore whether partnerships with independent schools can provide additional classroom capacity more quickly and at a lower cost than traditional public school construction.
Meanwhile, the province’s Schools Now program represents an investment of approximately $8.6 billion, with a target of building or modernizing approximately 100 schools and creating 200,000 student spaces.
The 2026 provincial budget also approved 10 new school projects in the Edmonton region: four for Edmonton Public Schools, three for Edmonton Catholic Schools and three for francophone education authorities.
During the discussion, Minister Nicolaides noted that Alberta’s student population had grown by approximately 90,000 over the past four years, creating significant pressure to expand classroom capacity. The government is pursuing multiple approaches to address the demand for additional student spaces.
Implementation Timeline
The proposed education amendments would take effect upon proclamation if the bill is passed, with implementation expected before the 2027–28 school year.
Further details on the provincewide report-card standards, public disclosure requirements for non-instructional days and frameworks for handling unresolved parent concerns are expected to be provided before the start of that school year.
The proposed childcare amendments would take effect on March 1, 2027.
Bill 35 places parental involvement and access to information at the centre of proposed changes to Alberta’s education and childcare systems. Its implementation will depend on the legislative process and the development of the regulations and standards needed to put the proposed measures into practice.
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