Alberta voters will be asked on Oct. 19 whether non-permanent residents should face new restrictions on access to publicly funded services, including education, as Premier Danielle Smith seeks a mandate for changes to provincial policy. Three of the referendum’s 10 questions, five of which concern immigration, address fees, waiting periods and eligibility for services. A yes vote could affect children’s ability to attend publicly funded schools.

One question asks whether non-permanent residents should pay a “reasonable fee” to access education. Another asks whether migrants should have to live in Alberta for a year before becoming eligible for publicly funded services. A third asks whether only people with specific citizenship and immigration status should qualify for social services. Since announcing the referendum earlier this year, Smith’s government has made claims about the cost of providing health care and education to non-permanent residents.

Darryl Hunter, a newly retired education professor at the University of Alberta, said support for the questions would affect children’s access to education. For families with several children, he said, a fee could discourage them from moving to Alberta. He pointed to Edmonton Public Schools’ listed international tuition of $13,500 for one school year.

“The immediate impact on the family remains to be seen if there’s additional money that’s actually raised from this,” Hunter said. He said his principal concern was the longer-term effect of barriers on migrants, which he believes could weaken Alberta’s economy and youth education.

The Education Act does not specifically refer to temporary residents or non-permanent residents. Under the act, anyone who is at least six and younger than 19 on Sept. 1 is entitled to education in Alberta if they are a provincial resident or have a parent who is a “resident of Canada.” The act defines that as someone lawfully entitled to be in Canada and living in the country; tourists and visitors are excluded.

The legislation also requires students who are at least six and younger than 16 on Sept. 1 to attend school. Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said in a statement to Postmedia that students with valid immigration status who meet the act’s criteria qualify for full provincial education funding, including children in families who are temporary residents. Students whose immigration status has expired do not qualify for provincial funding.

“Those who are not eligible for provincial funding may still be able to attend school. Decisions about tuition levels are made by individual school boards and can vary, based on local policies and circumstances,” Nicolaides said. The statement distinguishes access to provincial funding from the possibility of attending a school by paying tuition set by a board.

Under the act, school boards cannot charge tuition to students who meet resident eligibility rules. A board may charge a fee it determines for students considered non-residents. A resident student is someone with at least one parent or legal guardian living in the school board’s division.

For Edmonton Public Schools, the example provided is a student with at least one legal guardian living in Edmonton who is not Roman Catholic. Alberta’s referendum website says international students currently pay tuition to attend elementary and high school. Depending on the school board, the cost ranges from $11,000 to $14,000.

Hunter said that if the government changes its approach to education, the Education Act would be the most direct way to do so. “It would probably give the minister of education the responsibility of steering forward changes to the wording that would clarify, or in some way, shape, or form, bend the direction for (migrant) students who are the sons and daughters of international immigrants to Alberta,” he said.

The federal government says international students must pay annual tuition to attend elementary and high school in Canada, from kindergarten through Grade 12. Canada defines international students as people in the country on a visa or refugees, neither of whom have permanent resident status. The provincial referendum concerns access rules and fees for non-permanent residents within Alberta’s publicly funded services.

Figures provided by the province in March counted 45,554 temporary resident students enrolled in Alberta’s education system. The province put the annual cost per student at $12,000 and the total cost for 2026 at $544 million. The reported total was slightly below 2025, when 47,389 temporary resident students cost $566 million.

Statistics Canada recorded 281,857 non-permanent residents in Alberta as of December 2025, down from 288,227 in 2024. International migration to Alberta has been declining steadily since reaching a peak in 2023. The referendum follows related public discussion of immigration levels and provincial education spending on children of temporary residents.

Based on reporting by Edmonton Journal.