Thread by @joececiyyc

We're all concerned by the UCP's botched school reopening plan, but remember that they have been trying to destroy public ed from the start.

Here's a summary.

First, they forced school boards to remove “public” from their name. THREAD 1/ #abed #ableg cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

Then the UCP's 2019 budget gutted Education funding by failing to provide a single dollar to cover the extra *15,000* students entering schools. Not one dollar.

And that was after promising to fund enrollment growth. Another UCP lie. 2/ #abed #ableg edmontonjournal.com/news/politics/…

The UCP then forced school boards to deplete their reserves simply in order to fund their operations. 3/ #abed #ableg cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…

Then the UCP introduced a bill to bring more privatized education to Alberta - and continue to justify cuts to the public system. 4/ #abed #ableg edmontonjournal.com/news/local-new…

This year, the UCP is scrapping the Regional Service Delivery Program, which means kids who are blind, deaf or hard-of hearing won't have access to speech pathologists, occupational therapists, etc. 5/ #abed #ableg edmontonjournal.com/news/local-new…

The UCP cut PUF funding for kindergarten. This was a program that supported special needs kids. Without it, they could be left behind.

Minister LaGrange told parents this funding would be maintained - another UCP lie. 6/ #ableg #abed cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

The UCP radically rolled back protections for LGBTQ kids. 7/ calgaryherald.com/opinion/column…

After the UCP's audit failed to find any evidence of "reckless spending" at the Calgary Board of Education, Minister Adriana LaGrange threatened to fire the board anyway.

That's how hostile the UCP is to public education. Evidence doesn't matter 8/ #ableg cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

Now the UCP plans to "remove bias" from the curriculum... by appointing an all-male group of advisers, including a former @jkenney staffer who published a piece doubting the harm caused by residential schools & internment of Japanese Canadians. 9/ #ableg cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…

The UCP are conducting a concerted, deliberate, and sustained attack on public education in Alberta.

We need to keep fighting back. Our children depend on it.

And, by the way, here's a real school reopening plan. END/ #ableg #abed albertandp.ca/safe-school-re…

PS: How could I have forgotten that in the middle of a pandemic @AdrianaLaGrange fired 20,000 educators - with a tweet.

She promised to rehire them, but that was just another UCP lie. #anotherUCPlie #ableg #abed calgaryherald.com/opinion/braid-…