It is the second largest expense on provincial coffers and politicians across the province agree it's key to the future of Alberta, which is why education is always a top campaign issue.
While Alberta's system is rated well internationally, the province also has a high dropout rate.
St. Albert riding Liberal candidate Kim Bugeaud said the problem is absolutely critical and should have been addressed a long time ago.
"Any government should be doing something about it, because it is a disgrace that we have such high drop-out rates," she said. "We are not meeting the students' needs and we are not engaging them."
Alberta party candidate Tim Osborne said one way the government can help is to lift any barriers to older students who might try to come back for their diploma.
"I think anybody who wants to be able to complete their diploma should be able, so we want to reduce any barriers that might exist for doing that."
NDP candidate Nicole Bownes said to keep students in school, the system has to engage with them early on, long before high school.
"We don't believe students receive the support that they need within the school system and we believe that is one of the reasons they drop out."
Wildrose candidate James Burrows said outreach programs like those offered in St. Albert can be a big part of the puzzle if they recognize the unique challenges some students face.
"I think we need to give high school students personalized care and attention."
PC candidate Steve Khan agrees.
"There is a movement afoot that we acknowledge that not all students learn in the same ways or at the same rate, so we need to keep developing excellent outreach programs to make sure of that."
School construction
St. Albert hasn't experienced the school closures that have occurred in both rural and urban areas, but many of the city's schools are bursting at the seams.
Burrows argues schools have been political handouts for too long and school boards need to have the power to make those decisions themselves.
"We want to de-politicize school construction by allowing locally elected school boards to decide where their schools should be built."
He said school construction timelines shouldn't be decided in Edmonton.
"The problem with this is that the whole thing has been politicized where you have to go cap in hand to the minister and beg for money."
Premier Alison Redford announced this week her party would build 50 schools and pay for renovations at another 70 if elected. Khan said there has to be a consultative process at work with the community, but in future he also wants to see schools planned to serve multiple purposes.
"There is some forward thought to make sure the buildings we build going forward are going to be adaptable."
He said as a community changes a school's population is going to inevitably rise and fall and the government should plan for the lulls.
Bugeaud said her party would post a priority list for school construction so communities could see why other communities were ahead of them.
"Those requests should all be on the same page and then priorities can be triaged based on need."
She agrees with the need to make schools more important to a community by incorporating other activities within their walls.
"Schools would become the hub of a community, a social hub."
Bownes said the problem with the existing approach is that school boards are forced to close schools when the population dwindles, but without a school in the neighbourhood there is no hope for that population to bounce back.
"The enrolment rate has gone down, but the problem is that once they close a school they can't attract other people to live in the neighbourhood."
Citing the $107 million Redford injected into the system last fall, Khan said his party has already demonstrated leadership on education, especially along with the provincial budget's promise of three years of stable funding.
"Long-term budget planning is going to help them better prepare for their students and better utilize the dollars that they have."
Bugeaud and Osborne both argue the system needs to reflect the different world students are growing up into.
"The way we teach hasn't changed in the last 40 years," said Bugeaud. "They come and they go so we need to update our teaching methodology
Osborne said the education system should make sure students see beyond facts and figures and look at their own role in society.
"We need to make sure that the curriculum is something that is preparing our youths and our students for life beyond their school years, so it needs to be about more than just facts or figures.
Bownes said her party wants to decrease class sizes, which they believe is key to helping parents do better.
"By having more instructional time for teachers that is going to help a lot of problems.
