Why Independent Schools Exist

Kristi Kraychy, B.Ed., M.Ed. 

October 18, 2025

Every independent school began because someone saw a gap and decided to fill it.

These are not stories of privilege. They are stories of courage, hardship, creativity, and service.

Around 2013, I worked with a small team who were the first to bring Forest School to Alberta. Our dream was to let young children learn entirely through nature, curiosity, and play.

As we grew, we tried to partner with one of the large public Boards to create a public alternative program rooted in outdoor learning.

We were told no. 

Children could not play with sticks. 

They could not climb trees. 

The forest was a liability. 

And the question came, “Where is the learning?”

So we tried a different route, exploring how to become a publicly funded charter school. But at the time, there was a cap on charters in Alberta and only one spot left, with a long waiting list.

We instead went the independent Early Childhood Services route. We kept fees as low as possible (under $400 a year), stayed focused on Kindergarten, and poured our hearts into it. Families loved the program and wanted more. They asked for the next grades and a full school.

Our board wrestled deeply with the idea of a private/independent school for higher grades (in Alberta private and independent schools are the same thing). It felt counter to our values of accessibility and inclusion - ECS programs like ours, although still independent, were funded differently and it was easier to keep costs and fees low. In the end, the board chose to remain focused on early childhood education, where they had already been successful (and continue to be successful today). 

For me, the lifelong dream of bringing creativity-driven, human-centered learning to older students was too strong to let go. After exhausting all possible alternatives, I came to the conclusion that an independent school with tuition was better than not trying at all. In 2019, I set out on my own to give it a shot.

That is how the Changemaker School began: rooted in the same play based, nature connected philosophy as Forest School, but expanded to include project-based, student-centered learning weaving together the Alberta Curriculum and the global Changemaker framework.

It was not easy.

At the time, new independent schools had to lease a building and operate for one full year with zero government funding before applying for accreditation. I used my teacher retirement savings to start it, gathered a small group of passionate volunteers to join the board, and every teacher on staff took a significant pay cut at the start. Some of us did not take a paycheque at all. 

We were never in it for profit or to cater to the elite (and all accredited independent schools in Alberta have to be non-profit organizations). We did it because we believed it would make a difference for children.

Our students and staff thrived in countless ways over the years. The school was an incubator for educational innovation, and many of our staff, students, and parents formed close, family-like bonds.

Our non-profit also became a registered charity with a broader mission and purpose, as is the case with the governing bodies of many independent schools in Alberta.

But the combined challenges of opening just months before COVID hit and limited government funding made it impossible to keep our doors open after five years.

Still, I wouldn’t trade a single moment of the exhausting, all-consuming work it required. Because every child deserves a school that truly sees them, hears them, and helps them grow in ways a one size fits all system sometimes cannot.

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Other Stories

Across Alberta, independent schools have always been created from a desperate need, not luxury or elitism. Here are just a few:

• 2003 – Mamawi Atosketan Nêhiyaw Independent School: Founded by Cree community leaders near Maskwacis to centre Cree language, culture, and community in daily education.

• 1999 – New Heights School and Learning Services: Founded by parents of autistic children to create a safe, loving, strengths-based community where autistic learners could reach their full potential.

• 1999 – Edge School: Created to give young athletes a way to pursue high-level sport and strong academics simultaneously.

• 1997 – Third Academy: Established to support students with complex learning needs, emotional challenges, and mental-health considerations through small classes, individualized programming, and therapeutic support.

• 1987 – Calgary Jewish Academy: Opened to safeguard language, faith, and cultural identity for generations to come.

• 1981 – Calgary Academy: Opened to help students with learning differences flourish through small class sizes and specialist teachers.

• 1979 – Foothills Academy: Founded by families so their bright learners with learning disabilities could be supported in ways that worked for them.

• 1979 – Banbury Crossroads School: Began in Diane Swiatek’s living room when she expanded homeschooling her young son into a small neighbourhood learning pod, focused on self-direction and mutual respect. It has since grown to serve hundreds of students. After Diane’s recent passing, her son continued her legacy as Head of School.

• 1959 – Tweedsmuir, An Academic School for Girls: Opened to prepare young women for university at a time when fewer than one quarter of Canadian university students were female, bridging the gap between finishing schools and modern academic programs.

• 1929 – Strathcona School for Boys: Founded to provide a strong academic education emphasizing outdoor education, leadership, and moral character.

  • Those same values later aligned with Tweedsmuir’s, and the two merged in 1971 to form Strathcona-Tweedsmuir School, one of Alberta’s first co-ed independent schools.

• 1919 – Calgary Montessori School: Pioneered child-led learning long before it was fashionable.

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The Bigger Picture: Why This Matters Now

Right now, as Alberta teachers strike and tensions rise across the province, independent schools have become an easy target. Some voices are calling for the government to remove all funding from accredited independent schools - even though these schools are already operating with significantly less public funding.

Let’s be clear about the facts:

Independent schools receive no government funding for buildings or capital costs. They already operate with lower per-student base funding, even though their parents contribute the same taxes as everyone else. Every accredited independent school in Alberta is carefully monitored, audited, and held to the same or higher standards as public schools. Their teachers are fully certified, their curriculum is approved by Alberta Education, and their financials and academic results are transparent and accountable.

These schools are not the problem. They are part of the solution.

Independent schools help ease pressure on the public system by serving students with diverse learning needs, reducing class sizes, and expanding options for families who need something different.

They serve students with autism, learning disabilities, developmental delays, physical disabilities, anxiety, giftedness, and complex social or emotional needs. And yes, some do focus on advanced, university-bound learners who were getting lost in overcrowded classrooms - but that doesn’t make their needs any less real, complex or important.

If funding were removed, many small independent schools would be forced to close, and, in others, tuition would have to rise even higher to remain operational. Thousands of students - including those with significant learning and developmental complexities - would return to the public system overnight, further increasing class sizes and straining already stretched classrooms.

Despite the criticism and arguments against them, independent schools are not the dark forces they are too often made out to be.

Independent schools are the collective stories of people who saw a need, took a risk, and built something for children who did not fit neatly into a one-size-fits-all system.

Every independent school today is the visionary work of parents, teachers, and communities who deeply care about children and refused to let “no, we don’t do that” be the final answer. 

Independent schools are one small part of a mission shared with public schools: to help every child be seen for who they are, discover how they learn best, and find a place where they can truly thrive.