Alberta taxpayers won a victory last week when Premier Klein's government announced it would continue to require school boards to hold a referendum on any proposed property tax increases. The Learning Commission had urged the government to get rid of the referendum requirement, which would have put the onus on taxpayers to explain why they want to keep their own earnings. But thanks to this Alberta government decision, the onus will remain on school board trustees to justify, in a referendum, why they need more money.

Albertans do not have taxpayer protection legislation at the municipal, provincial or federal levels. But having it at the school board level is a good start.

However, if the Learning Commission's other recommendations are accepted, taxpayers can look forward to spending $4.4 billion instead of $3.8 billion per year on public education. According to the B.C. Inter-provincial Education Statistics Project, Alberta's education spending of $6,834 per student is the highest in Canada - and that's before the proposed increase!

Rather than spending even more, Premier Klein's government should introduce some real accountability into the education system.

First, the ATA should be re-established as a professional body to set and enforce high standards for the teaching profession, in the interest of students, parents and the taxpaying public. This professional body should be separate from a teachers' union, whose primary purpose is to lobby for higher teacher salaries.

Second, principals should no longer be required to belong to the teachers' union. This is one recommendation in the Learning Commission report which the government should follow.

Third, as teachers exercise a monopoly over an essential public service, they should not have the right to strike.

Fourth, the government should empower parents with an education funding voucher which parents can use for the school or program of their choice. Edmonton's public school system provides parents with a broad range of real choices, and has been described as one of the best in North America. This same principle, that tax dollars should pay for the schools that parents want, should be applied across Alberta. Parents - not politicians and bureaucrats - should have the final say as to what kind of education their children receive. Expanding the number of charter schools is one way to provide students with more diversity and choice.

Fifth, excellent teachers should be paid more than mediocre ones. In Alberta today, a caring, dedicated and hard-working teacher earns exactly the same as another teacher who does the minimum to get by. A recent study by the Society for the Advancement of Excellence in Education (www.saee.ca) documents various systems of performance pay for teachers in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Colorado, California, Wisconsin, and other jurisdictions. Certainly seniority and level of education should continue to be factors which determine how much Alberta teachers are paid. But they shouldn't be the only factors. A province-wide JMCK poll revealed that 71% of Albertans want additional factors to be added to the existing two.

Premier Klein can throw more tax dollars at the status quo, where good performance goes unrewarded and poor performance goes unpunished. Or he can do taxpayers a favour by introducing some real accountability and real choice into Alberta's education system.