Alberta homeschoolers school board shut down

[AmyontheFarm]

I got an email that one of the homeschoolers school boards has be suddenly shut down.  Anyone out there know what is going on? 

 

For those that aren't familiar with Alberta homeschool policy, parents can register with a homeschool school board and received funds from the Alberta government to use towards homeschooling thier children.  People frequently in Ontario think we should lobby to get the same thing but I don't want it.  With government money comes government input so I'd rather steer clear myself.

[liber]

It's all over my Facebook. Got an email from HSLDA today about it. The board is Wisdom. I have known lots of homeschoolers who have registered with them. Wisdom has a statement on its website.

[Mergath]

In one of the FB homeschooling groups I'm in, someone from that area said it's because the families in charge have been mismanaging funds and have pocketed something like two million dollars over the last couple of years. I can't tell you how accurate that is, but it does sound like there's more to it than the evil government oppressing homeschoolers or whatever.

[bolt.]

It effects about 3500 students, and the RCMP will be investigating. The financials of the minuscule parent school ("Trinity") and their sizeable homeschooling arm are pretty incriminating at first glance.

 

Other school boards (wherever the students switch to) will recieve the per-student funds that would have gone to "Wisdom" so there shouldn't be too rocky of a transition for anyone. Many other boards have already released welcome and 'how to join us' statements.

 

Of course HSLDA is overblowing the slight possibility that the charges are false, and it's really "persecution"... a fairly predictable fear mongering response on their part. It's unlikely that the government of Alberta would "persecute" one of the approximately two dozen 'Christian' boards among about 40 total homeschooling boards (rough estimates). EDITING on more info: while there are lots of school boards available to homeschoolers, this one does govern about 1/3 of HS schoolers in the province. So my previous implication (that it's too minor to be a reasonable "persecution strategy") doesn't hold water.

 

The government regulations/input in question are about fraud and proper use of funds by the school board: not about homeschooling itself.

 

Note to HSLDA: you don't increase our credibility by unconditionally defending the shadiest characters among us. If there is evidence if wrong doing, it should be investigated.

Edited October 27, 2016 by bolt.

[liber]

In one of the FB homeschooling groups I'm in, someone from that area said it's because the families in charge have been mismanaging funds and have pocketed something like two million dollars over the last couple of years. I can't tell you how accurate that is, but it does sound like there's more to it than the evil government oppressing homeschoolers or whatever.

2.3 million dollars paid out in salaries for 15 people from the two families. Some of those people were teachers, superintendents, and support staff.

 

The NDP government appears to have an ax to grind with Christian educators, homeschooling or otherwise.

[liber]

It effects about 3500 students, and the RCMP will be investigating. The financials of the minuscule parent school ("Trinity") and their sizeable homeschooling arm are pretty incriminating at first glance.

 

Other school boards (wherever the students switch to) will recieve the per-student funds that would have gone to "Wisdom" so there shouldn't be too rocky of a transition for anyone. Many other boards have already released welcome and 'how to join us' statements.

 

Of course HSLDA is overblowing the slight possibility that the charges are false, and it's really "persecution"... a fairly predictable fear mongering response on their part. It's unlikely that the government of Alberta would "persecute" one of the approximately two dozen 'Christian' boards among about 40 total homeschooling boards (rough estimates).

 

The government regulations/input in question are about fraud and proper use of funds by the school board: not about homeschooling itself.

 

Note to HSLDA: you don't increase our credibility by unconditionally defending the shadiest characters among us. If there is evidence if wrong doing, it should be investigated.

Wisdom feels that they have done everything above board and have nothing to hide and have the prof to back that up. We shall see.

 

When I lived in AB, I only heard of good things of that board. Most unschoolers would register there because they were the most hands off.

[hornblower]

Wisdom feels that they have done everything above board and have nothing to hide and have the prof to back that up. We shall see.

 

When I lived in AB, I only heard of good things of that board. Most unschoolers would register there because they were the most hands off.

 

From the perspective of registering families, hands off frequently appeals. 

 

From the perspective of taxpayers funding these programs, it's not so appealing. The board/authority is getting tons of money from the province & not providing many services to the families. I think it's a situation that has potential for lots of hanky panky. 

 

 

[Slartibartfast]

That is quite a bit of money for 15 people. 

[Mergath]

2.3 million dollars paid out in salaries for 15 people from the two families. Some of those people were teachers, superintendents, and support staff.

 

The NDP government appears to have an ax to grind with Christian educators, homeschooling or otherwise.

That averages out to $153k per person. What services were they providing to earn that much money? It sounds like it was basically an umbrella school for unschoolers. I can't imagine what they could have been doing to justify over two million dollars for two families. Edited October 27, 2016 by Mergath

[Slartibartfast]

That averages out to $153k per person. What services were they providing to earn that much money? It sounds like it was basically an umbrella school for unschoolers. I can't imagine what they could have been doing to justify over two million dollars for two families.

 

 

That is what I was thinking! :lol:

 

Yeah, I am not so sure that sounds above board to me, particularly for an umbrella. We have those here in SC and they don't do much of anything.

[Mergath]

According to this article, it sounds like this group was running a shady operation with quite a few illegal practices.

 

http://m.metronews.ca/#/article/news/calgary/2016/10/26/family-ties-inappropriate-spending-alberta-private-school.html

[Slartibartfast]

So the auditor is the one that reported them. Wow. That is bad.

 

 

[Amira]

It looks like the 2.3 million in salaries was paid over three years, so that puts the average at closer to 50,000 dollars annually (less than 40000 USD). I'd like to know what those 15 people in two families were doing that justified that kind of recompensation. That's about what teachers get paid for full-time work in Canada from what I can find.

Edited October 27, 2016 by Amira

[Sarah CB]

It looks like the 2.3 million in salaries was paid over three years, so that puts the average at closer to 50,000 dollars annually (less than 40000 USD). I'd like to know what those 15 people in two families were doing that justified that kind of recompensation. That's about what teachers get paid for full-time work in Canada from what I can find.

 

If it's anything like BC, then the teachers could easily have full time work - depending on how many students they were overseeing. Between training, writing up individual learning plans for each student, sending out and responding to regular emails from the parents and/or students, assessing portfolios, doing home visits, and writing report cards a teacher with 40 students can be kept very busy. Most teachers I knew went above and beyond that by teaching at co-ops, spending extra time with families or students who needed more support, going with parents to the convention or the homeschool store to pick out curriculum, taking students on field trips, etc. 

[bolt.]

It's hard to tell at first glance whether things were "shady" or just sloppy and amateurish with plenty of taking advantage of the freedom they thought they had to do whatever they felt like with large amounts of money.

 

I know plenty of small-scale non profit organizations that don't really think it's nessisary to apply all the rules all the time. There are lots of places where a church, or a food bank, or a condo board or some-such might do things like (as an general example of a moderate violation) hire handy friends and family for various jobs without bothering to write or keep actual employment contracts. Or (another example) perhaps they budget money for certian expenses, but when needed, they, 'Borrow from Peter to pay Paul.'

 

Some of the irregularities of Wisdom sound a lot like that sort of 'understandable' wrong practices: but on a much grander scale. Others of the alleged improprieties (dominate boards with two families, hire from those families, and set one another's salaries; set up your own 'lease' from parent school to an undocumented 'homeschool arm' at 10x market rates; continuously accumulate unclaimed funds that you have no right to keep, spend freely on selves and staff as 'expenses'.) Thise sound very much like open corruption.

 

If true, it looks like they fell down a slippery slope from being careless and 'family run' to being clearly unethical as the scale of their organization increased. It's sad, but I'm glad it was stopped.

 

It was a good umbrella school for unschoolers: extremely hands off, (misinformation removed, sorry). It turns out that their 3500 students are about 1/3 of our homeschoolers, so it's more of a 'significant organization' here than I thought

 

I do think the current government of Alberta has 'an axe to grind' with Christian educators (private schools and homeschoolers): but I don't think it's the one that people fear.

 

I think the gov't wants us to take our money (which is often other people's money) more seriously: to keep good records and make sure everything is above board all the time. I think they want us to hire competent people, oversee them well, and act like people expect ordinary employers to be acting. Other than that, the other issue seems to be forcing us to educate with for respect human rights and equality even if 'we' don't like it. (But I don't think there's any reason for us to 'not like' that.)

Edited October 27, 2016 by bolt.

[liber]

When i lived in AB I had to meet with a facilitator twice a year I believe. Not sure how many students a facilitator had. Facilitators also had to have a teachers degree. The amount of funding depended how you registered. The more fully aligned you wanted to be with the school system, the more money you received. I had my passes paid for at WEM. It was for socialization. We could get reimbursed for all kinds of things. Technically the boards were to ask for non consumables back, but I think most boards did not as it would be too much stuff to store. I started to do AO quite early and my funding bought a lot of my books in the early years. Also all my manipulatives. I was with THEE, not sure if they are still around.

 

Years ago when Dallas Miller headed up HSLDA, he was warning homeschoolers in the province then not to take the money as the government was closely watching and felt that was the door that would be used to undermine homeschooling freedoms. After all, he who pays the piper calls the tune.

 

I really hope what is going on with Wisdom isn't true.

[liber]

http://parentchoice.ca/2016/10/pce-on-the-closure-of-trinity-christian-school-association/

 

http://www.aheaonline.com/

 

www.wisdomhomeschooling.com

[hornblower]

If it's anything like BC, then the teachers could easily have full time work - depending on how many students they were overseeing. Between training, writing up individual learning plans for each student, sending out and responding to regular emails from the parents and/or students, assessing portfolios, doing home visits, and writing report cards a teacher with 40 students can be kept very busy. Most teachers I knew went above and beyond that by teaching at co-ops, spending extra time with families or students who needed more support, going with parents to the convention or the homeschool store to pick out curriculum, taking students on field trips, etc. 

 

But it's not like our DLs (which are equivalent to school & not homeschooling at all). This  student wrote about her experience: 

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/i/web/status/791418217562603522

[liber]

 

But it's not like our DLs (which are equivalent to school & not homeschooling at all). This student wrote about her experience:

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/i/web/status/791418217562603522

And then there are students who have the opposite experience.

[kiana]

And then there are students who have the opposite experience.

 

The opposite? You mean they have their facilitator witness intoxicated parents verbally abusing their children and a child begging for help and they immediately report it? Oh, good. I'm glad to know that employees (probably mandated reporters) who are willing to turn a blind eye in order to make sure that an abusive parent can continue homeschooling are rare. 

[liber]

The opposite? You mean they have their facilitator witness intoxicated parents verbally abusing their children and a child begging for help and they immediately report it? Oh, good. I'm glad to know that employees (probably mandated reporters) who are willing to turn a blind eye in order to make sure that an abusive parent can continue homeschooling are rare. 

 

I think you know what i mean. No need to be be snarky.   Her experience probably was not the norm.  And I could post links of people who had great experiences with Wisdom.  One persons negative experience does not mean the allegations against Wisdom are true.

[HomeMum]

Any updates on this?

[bolt.]

I saw one article saying there is now a temporary injunction that they can "keep operating" (I presume until things go forward in some sort of legal challenge). They aren't to recieve any funding, so I don't really know what it would mean for them to "operate" in the meantime.

 

Various parents seem to be moving to new boards, but there's no rush. Following an initial panic about 'not having a board any more' which led some parents to scramble: it seems like now everyone expects the transition to take a reasonable amount of time.

 

Edited to add: other school boards are having to expand (in some cases, considerably) as the situation develops. They seem to be taking 'waiting lists' until they see enough potential new students to hire a new teacher, then hiring, then taking on the students. It's a bit of give-and-take because they can't accept more students than a certian ratio dictates, but it would be unwise to hire before knowing what the level of demand actually is. Unfortunately, many parents are likely to put their student on multiple lists, which messes with the math.

 

Some parents seem to be standing loyally with Wisdom. There is a petition, and a variety of predictable 'The government is against freedom and Christianity!' -- hype. Mostly it has simmered down though.

Edited November 6, 2016 by bolt.

[liber]

They are receiving about 10% of their funding. They are going to court again in January to try and get another injunction to receive all of their funding. It is my understanding that only a couple hundred students are registered elsewhere with the majority choosing to remain with Wisdom.

 

I have a friend IRL who has dealt with the education minister on a completely different matter and has come to the conclusion that the man cannot be trusted based on the manner in which he behaved in the particular situation that my friend was involved with.

[LucyStoner]

So the auditor is the one that reported them. Wow. That is bad.

Accountants unite!

[ChocolateReignRemix]

They are receiving about 10% of their funding. They are going to court again in January to try and get another injunction to receive all of their funding. It is my understanding that only a couple hundred students are registered elsewhere with the majority choosing to remain with Wisdom.

 

I have a friend IRL who has dealt with the education minister on a completely different matter and has come to the conclusion that the man cannot be trusted based on the manner in which he behaved in the particular situation that my friend was involved with.

 

But then again, using the logic applied in a previous post, how do we know her experience was the norm?

[Corraleno]

Eggen said their review found inappropriate leases between Trinity and Wisdom, where they were leasing their own properties to themselves at 10 times the market rate, as well as spending money on alcohol, parties and gift-certificates.

The article also says that the board kept $1 million that was supposed to have been returned to homeschooling families.

 

If the auditor's findings are accurate, I don't see how anyone can claim this is unfair persecution of Christians and/or homeschoolers. Do people think that a secular homeschool board would be given a pass for the same offenses? Or that a public school board consisting of only two families, who were leasing their own properties to the school at outrageously inflated rates and pocketing a million dollars that was supposed to go to the students, would be allowed to operate like that without interference or censure?

[liber]

Funds aren't supposed to be returned to the families. That is not how it works in AB. If the homeschooling family does not use their portion of the funding it stays with the board. The boards receive 50% and the families receive 50%. The 50% the board gets pays for salaries, programs etc. AB education claimed that funding was used to pay for a funeral. This is not true. Wisdom has a fund set up for widows and orphans that is funded from other sources that helps families. That fund paid for the funeral.

 

It is not so much an attack against Christian homeschoolers but against homeschooling in general. Not all families registered with Wisdom are Christian.

[Corraleno]

Funds aren't supposed to be returned to the families. That is not how it works in AB. If the homeschooling family does not use their portion of the funding it stays with the board. The boards receive 50% and the families receive 50%. The 50% the board gets pays for salaries, programs etc. AB education claimed that funding was used to pay for a funeral. This is not true. Wisdom has a fund set up for widows and orphans that is funded from other sources that helps families. That fund paid for the funeral.

 

It is not so much an attack against Christian homeschoolers but against homeschooling in general. Not all families registered with Wisdom are Christian.

 

The claim is that parents have the right to carry over unused money to the next year if they wish, but Wisdom imposes a deadline for requesting carry-over. Wisdom says the deadline is a provincial law, but the province says there is no such law and the imposition of an artificial deadline simply allowed Wisdom to pocket money that parents could have carried over to the next year.

[Corraleno]

Here are some details regarding the leasing issues:

 

Trinity, where Kenneth Noster is a principal, built a facility with a $500K government grant on land privately owned by the Noster family. Trinity then claims they sold the building for $150K — a loss of $350K — to another company (Living Waters) which was founded and controlled by the Noster family, who in turn leased the property back to Wisdom, also founded and controlled by the Nosters. And according to the audit, their own records of these transactions are inconsistent and contradictory, listing the transfer in one place as a sale by Trinity for $150K, but legally recording it as a private sale by the Nosters to their own company (Living Waters) for only $1. The gov't says that neither Trinity nor the Nosters had the legal right to sell the property.

 

Wisdom was also paying more than $100K per year (allegedly 10x the market rate) to lease space at Lone Spruce Farm, which is owned by the Nosters.

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/alberta/alberta-shuts-down-private-christian-school-operator/article32530795/

http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/home-schooling-agency-tied-to-spending-scandal-fires-back-at-alberta-government
 

 

Edited November 6, 2016 by Corraleno

[liber]

I was not a!lowed to carry over and i was with a different board.

[liber]

My friend who was with Wisdom, child graduated last year, carried over a couple of years to get a computer for her child.

[Corraleno]

My friend who was with Wisdom, child graduated last year, carried over a couple of years to get a computer for her child.

 

The issue isn't that Wisdom did not allow carry-over, but that they imposed an arbitrary deadline for requesting it, then refused to accept any requests beyond that deadline, keeping the unused money for themselves. According to the province, the parents still had the right to request carry-over and Wisdom did not have the right to refuse to accept requests after their arbitrary deadline.

[liber]

The issue isn't that Wisdom did not allow carry-over, but that they imposed an arbitrary deadline for requesting it, then refused to accept any requests beyond that deadline, keeping the unused money for themselves. According to the province, the parents still had the right to request carry-over and Wisdom did not have the right to refuse to accept requests after their arbitrary deadline.

If the money stayed with the school board I have no problem with that.

[Corraleno]

If the money stayed with the school board I have no problem with that.

 

If by "the school board" you mean Trinity, which was the entity legally approved by Alberta Education to oversee homeschooling in the province, then no it didn't actually go to them.

 

More than 90% of the educational funds granted to Trinity went directly to Wisdom, with zero oversight from Trinity. The two families that run Wisdom hired their own relatives, voted themselves and their relatives whatever salaries they wanted with no oversight or board approval, wrote themselves checks for "public relations expenses," sold a building they didn't own to themselves at vastly below-market prices, leased their own property to themselves at vastly above-market rates, awarded themselves $15,000 "Christmas bonuses," and paid themselves extremely generous "per diem" travel allowances ($280/night) without requiring any receipts — and in many cases the "expenses" they were reimbursing themselves for had actually been paid for with Wisdom's business credit card, so they were caught "double-dipping" on many occasions. Wisdom also used Alberta Education funds inappropriately to pay business expenses related to the Noster's other company, Living Waters.

 

Wisdom also used gov't grant money to develop various online courses for students and workshops for parents, then "paid" themselves from the parents' accounts for providing these, and they charged parents for assessments that they should not have charged for. These actions, among others, allowed them to keep more than the 50% of funds they were legally allowed, by falsely reporting money as having been disbursed to parents that they in fact kept.

 

ETA: You can read the entire report online here. The "financial irregularities" are extensive and egregious.

Edited November 7, 2016 by Corraleno

[ChocolateReignRemix]

If by "the school board" you mean Trinity, which was the entity legally approved by Alberta Education to oversee homeschooling in the province, then no it didn't actually go to them.

 

More than 90% of the educational funds granted to Trinity went directly to Wisdom, with zero oversight from Trinity. The two families that run Wisdom hired their own relatives, voted themselves and their relatives whatever salaries they wanted with no oversight or board approval, wrote themselves checks for "public relations expenses," sold buildings they didn't own to themselves at vastly below-market prices, approved leases of their own property at vastly above-market rates, awarded themselves large Christmas bonuses, and paid themselves extremely generous "per diem" travel allowances ($280/night) without requiring any receipts or even proof that a trip was taken. 

 

Wisdom also used gov't grant money to develop various online courses for students and workshops for parents, then "paid" themselves from the parents' accounts for providing these, and they charged parents for assessments that they should not have charged for. These actions, among others, allowed them to keep more than the 50% of funds they were legally allowed, by falsely reporting money as having been disbursed to parents that they in fact kept.

 

That's gonna leave a mark.

[Slartibartfast]

If by "the school board" you mean Trinity, which was the entity legally approved by Alberta Education to oversee homeschooling in the province, then no it didn't actually go to them.

 

More than 90% of the educational funds granted to Trinity went directly to Wisdom, with zero oversight from Trinity. The two families that run Wisdom hired their own relatives, voted themselves and their relatives whatever salaries they wanted with no oversight or board approval, wrote themselves checks for "public relations expenses," sold buildings they didn't own to themselves at vastly below-market prices, approved leases of their own property at vastly above-market rates, awarded themselves large Christmas bonuses, and paid themselves extremely generous "per diem" travel allowances ($280/night) without requiring any receipts or even proof that a trip was taken. 

 

Wisdom also used gov't grant money to develop various online courses for students and workshops for parents, then "paid" themselves from the parents' accounts for providing these, and they charged parents for assessments that they should not have charged for. These actions, among others, allowed them to keep more than the 50% of funds they were legally allowed, by falsely reporting money as having been disbursed to parents that they in fact kept.

 

It sounds more like the Nosters are attacking homeschoolers more than anyone.

[Mergath]

If the money stayed with the school board I have no problem with that.

Really? Even if the families were legally entitled to it?

[bolt.]

Really? Even if the families were legally entitled to it?

As I understand the legalities,

 

IF: Parents do not request and submit receipts for allowable expenses up to the full amount they are entitled to

 

THEN: The school board (actually and exactly the school board, not another arm, foundation, contractors, etc) that received those per-student funds can keep them for further funding of 'their half' of the responsibilities. The funds are intended to be used generally for the good of all students of that board if they aren't being fully used by the family that is entitled to them.

 

For some reason, some allow 'carry over' (perhaps because it seems fair, and the money is still on hand) but this is not expected from the gov't perspective. The school board, as a non-profit, is not supposed to accumulate funds or hold on to them year after year.