Canada
Old Scona High School in
Edmonton,
Alberta.
Per the
Canadian constitution, public-school education in Canada is a provincial responsibility and, as such, there are many variations between the provinces. Junior Kindergarten (or equivalent) exists as an official program in some, but not most, places. Kindergarten (or equivalent) is available in every province, but provincial funding and the level of hours provided varies widely. Starting at grade one, at about age five there is universal Crown-funded access up to grade twelve (or equivalent). Schools are generally divided into elementary or primary schools (Kindergarten to Grade 7), and secondary, or high school (Grades 8 to 12); in some schools, particularly in rural areas, the elementary and middle levels can be combined into one school. Commencing in 2003, Grade 13, or OAC, was eliminated in Ontario; it had previously been required only for students who intended to go on to university. Children are required to attend school until the age of sixteen.
Some Canadian provinces offer segregated-by-religious-choice, but nonetheless Crown-funded and Crown-regulated, religiously-based education. In
Ontario, for example, Roman Catholic schools are known as "Catholic school", not "public school", although these are, by definition, no less "public" than their secular counterparts.
The act of parliament that brought
Alberta into
Confederation stipulates that each school district in the province must have both a public school and a separate school system; despite their names, both school systems are considered "public" in the greater scope of the term, as both are funded by the
Crown-in-Right-of-Alberta. In districts where the majority of taxpayers are Roman Catholics, the public school system is run by the Roman Catholic school board, while in all other districts, the separate school system is run by the Roman Catholic school board. A certain proportion of property taxes are allocated to schools; each taxpayer chooses which school system he or she wishes to support, and is allowed to vote for school trustees based on their choice. As of 2006 only one school district,
St. Albert, has a majority of Roman Catholic taxpayers, but many districts (including
St. Paul and
Bonnyville) have been majority Roman Catholic at one time or another.
In Calgary, Jewish, Sikh, and Hindu public schools are also supported by the separate school system