Calgary Catholic School District byelection candidate Steve Chapman wants a safe, secure environment for Catholic school students for generations to come, and that’s why he’s running to be a trustee.

Chapman, who is running to represent Wards 11 and 12, is a former Calgary Police Service officer and now works as a political consultant. Previously, he managed Jeff Davison’s campaign for Ward 6 councillor.

In an interview with LiveWire Calgary, Chapman said he is concerned about the changes he’s seen in Catholic schools across the city. He cited gender identity and sexuality orientation lessons as an example, claiming they cause “angst” among children.

(A study conducted by the University of Texas found that schools with early and repeated sexual orientation and gender identity training fostered more positive environments for all students and led to less victimization among LGBTQIA+ students.)

“Over the last couple of years, I’ve certainly seen a change in society and some of the pressures that are being happened, that are happening on the school board. So that has been concerning me … That level of safe, secure environment may not be there for kids next year, the year after,” he said.

Chapman said his political experience has allowed him to develop relationships with municipal and provincial politicians, which will help the board if he’s elected.

“It means [the politicians] can easily put a face to a name when I call up, and so the connection is quick … I’m not just one more person on the [board of trustees] who’s calling for something. They know who I am,” he said.

“They know that my commitment and passion to their campaigns … They know that’s going to translate over to what I bring to the board.”

CCSD’s pressing issues

Budgetary concerns are a big overarching issue for many CCSD schools. While the district ended the 2023-2024 fiscal year with a $8.4 million surplus (a $17 million deficit was originally budgeted), the extra money was largely due to additional provincial funding during the year and higher revenue from investment income and selling property.

Chapman said the current three-year rolling average that the province uses to determine funding for public schools is not appropriate for a city like Calgary. The CCSD must follow up with Alberta’s Ministry of Education on what changes are going to be made and how they will impact the per-student funding model moving forward.

He added he’s already spoken with Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides about the issue.

“The biggest issue is, even though the money is coming, it’s not there when we need it. We’ve had to pull money from reserves to try to balance the budget,” Chapman said.

“I think the first step is making sure that that communication between the Minister of Finance and the education minister is going to be appropriate to ensure that, once a budget is passed, that money is allocated and ready by September, as opposed to waiting some time in the new year for catch up.”

Chapman also said the CCSD Board of Trustees needs to be more proactive in infrastructure planning to address capacity issues. Around 30 Catholic schools in Calgary had a utilization rate of 100 per cent or higher in October 2024, and around 63,519 students were enrolled as of Sept. 27, 2024 (a three per cent increase year-over-year).

Premier Danielle Smith announced a new School Construction Accelerator Program last September, which aims to tackle school capacity issues across the province by fast-tracking thousands of new spaces. This also means an increase in the K-12 capital budget to $8.6 billion.

“We have a plant just north of Calgary that’s been building some of the portables for the school systems … I’ve seen one example of a new portable system that was for a school in Ogden, and it was very quick to install,” Chapman said.

“It basically comes completely self-contained with heating, air conditioning, two bathrooms, four classrooms, and basically you just pop it in and add it to the existing school. So I can see that as being a very major and appropriate use of funding to quickly expand an existing school, or for additional capacity.”

Chapman added more teachers need to be hired to teach the growing student population. He said he is planning on talking to post-secondary institutions and the union to onboard new teachers faster.

“I think the teaching part is obviously going to be a different problem, and I’m not quite sure how we’re addressing it,” Chapman said.

“In September, we had more students enrolled than we did the year before. That requires more teachers, more maintenance and support staff.”

Indigenous Education

Indigenous Education is one of four pillars and priorities of the CCSD Board of Trustees. In September, the CCSD pledged to empower Indigenous youth in their schools ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This includes having an Indigenous Education Team made up of four Indigenous teacher consultants and five cultural liaisons from different cultural backgrounds Dene, Cherokee, Stoney Nakoda, Piikani and Cree.

Chapman said he wants to encourage teachers to take a personal interest in the students they have and to help each student individually instead of pushing out “blanket policies.”

“I think if we really focus back on our Catholic heritage and in our biblical teachings … We really need to focus on the basis that we are all God’s children and every child needs to be promoted and protected,” he said.

“There’s no blanket approach to that, but I think we need to be aware and very open to the conversation and really give the teachers the support they need to determine to look at where the child is going, and if necessary, we’ll put the forces, the resources together to help that trajectory.”

Chapman also said he has experience working with Indigenous youth in educational environments after working with the Métis Nation of Alberta, the Blackfoot Confederacy and various local Métis groups.

“The distinction between Catholic faith-based education and perhaps other education is that concern and focus on the individual student, that we’re not just a mill pushing people through. I’m not saying that happens at the public school. My experience, though, is that it can certainly be more sustainable within faith-based education because it’s part of our mandate,” he said.

The CCSD byelection is scheduled for Jan. 31, 2025 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Advance polls are scheduled for Jan. 24 and Jan. 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information about how and where to vote, please visit the Elections Calgary website.