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Hi, I’m Christy, and I’m Sandra, and we’re here to talk to you about the don’ts on your reimbursement form. I guess we’re going to, there’s no judgment here, and based on past experience, we are just going to help you out on what you can send it to us for reimbursement because Alberta Education is the standard we have to go by. And if we get audited, we want to make sure that everything is up to their standards, and we’re here to make it easier for you to tell you about some of the things that aren’t reimbursed so we don’t have to get in contact with you or not to approve some of the items. Right, and we’ve had lots of different scenarios and different examples that we’re going to run by you because it’s actually come by across our desk.

What Isn’t Reimbursed
Puzzles, Furniture, and Lego
We’ll start off with puzzles, which are extremely educational and we love doing puzzles, but unfortunately, unless they are educational—like for example, if they’re not like a map of the world or something to do with history and if they don’t have the word “education” in them—unfortunately, Alberta Education doesn’t let us put puzzles through. Another good one, believe it or not, when you’re setting up your work study space, is we do not cover furniture, chairs, desks, lamps, organizers, file folders, file cabinets, anything like that. Although those are all good purchases, those aren’t covered. Right, that’s another thing that we cannot cover. Another very popular request is Lego, and a lot of the Lego we see is theme Lego, and we can’t put that through. Alberta Ed marks that as a toy, and I know that there’s a lot of great things in building Lego, but if it’s themed, it’s a definite no. Anything robotic and like the tech Lego, that is definitely allowed, and anything like the Lego that you can use as a manipulative directly related to education is absolutely allowed as well.

Sports Fees and Personal Items
Another topic is sports fees. So some of the things that are covered are things like ski lessons, skating lessons, swim lessons. In addition to that, things like music lessons, piano lessons, are also covered. Right, but we’re not going to pay for your child to play hockey, hockey registration, any soccer registration, or any team sport type of funding. We’re not, they’re not going to cover that. When I say “we,” I don’t mean we as in Christy and I. I mean that when we’re audited by Alberta Education, they are not going to cover this. Not approved. No. Another thing to go along with that is like your running shoes, dance shoes, things like that, backpacks, are also not covered. We see a lot of that that comes through. So although I know if your kids taking running lessons, they are running class, they need shoes, but again, we cannot cover those things. Exactly.

Electronics and Games
Another item that comes up quite often across our desks and regularly are portable chargers. Those are not covered, but I understand where the confusion might be because we do cover things like adapters. You can have a second screen off your computer so you can work from home or, in addition to that, we cover things like toner and ink and stuff for printers, but unfortunately, portable chargers are not on the list. Right, and we can’t cover warranty, like if we’re talking about computers, but we can cover computer repair if you had to take your computer in for any kind of query. We cover that as well. And another, another big one is games. And I know games are great, I love playing them with my kids and family, and even like Monopoly, Monopoly, you would think would be an educational game because you’re learning how to count money and whatnot. But unless your game has the words “educational” on it, like flash cards or a math problem, solvent problem games, again, that’s another one that we just can’t put through because we get we get them sent back and Alberta Ed is definitely not going to cover games.

Sundries and Costumes
Another item is postage stamps. We do not cover those as well. Those are pretty straightforward. Yeah. And batteries is another one. I know you use them for your calculators and whatnot, but we can’t put those through as well as stickers. Stickers, I know they’re fun and they’re rewarding and stuff, but that’s just another one that. So hopefully, if you’re buying stickers, and I think they’re a good thing as well, maybe just stick to your cheaper resources like the dollar store, and then you it doesn’t really matter if they’re reimbursed or not, just keep them for yourselves. Another item that’s not covered are uniforms or costumes. So whether it’s buying a uniform for your child to take culinary arts at school or a costume to wear for traveling or dance or anything like that, those items are not covered and will not be covered. Nope.

Cameras
Another one that we’ve seen quite a few times is a GoPro camera and those Insta cameras, and both of those are a little fun and nice to take the video of your skiing down the hill or whatnot, or the Insta camera where you you get that instant photo. We can’t cover those. However, if your a son or daughter is interested in photography and they like those cameras that are more, you know, where you have to, what sort of, use the lens, there’s the legs and you’re actually taking great photography and learning, then absolutely, we cover those cameras.

Worms, Hourglasses, and Waffle Irons
The next one is kind of kind of fun. We had to come across, and I honestly had to ask because I was kind of surprised, it was worms for fishing. Yes. And so definitely, we are not going to cover the worms for fishing. No. And an hourglass timer, that was another one that came across our desk, and you might be timing your kid to do like, I guess, speed math or whatever, but again, a “mad minute,” like I know my children did that, we used to do that and everything, but that was that’s not covered. Not covered either. Another item that’ll come across here probably in the next little while is a cap and gown. I know for all those upcoming grads, we do not cover any of those expenses. We will have on our website and probably on Facebook that you’ll be able to if you wanted to rent a gown from us directly, kind of on a side topic, but if you’re looking to buy one or expense one on your own, we will not reimburse for that at all. No. And then here’s another one, a waffle iron came across our desk, but I think a toaster did as well. And for like if your child is interested in culinary, we do cover like a mix master or meat grinder or tools to go along with them learning how to do food prep and make things, but not like things like a waffle iron and a toaster. You’re not really learning how to, they’re basic life skills but we need them to be actually learning how to make something and and to go along with stuff like that. So we wouldn’t be able to let those things go through as well.

Car Tires and Toys
Another item that came across are car tires or track tires. We do not cover those as well. I know there’s a lot of young people out there learning mechanics or automotive, but we do not cover the expensive tires. Another one that came across is a doll cradle. We will not cover dolls or doll cradles or doll furniture or any kind of toy related or anything to do with toys. That’s definitely on the not funded list.

Final Advice
So when you look at your receipts and it says “toys” and there’s not really a description on what that toy is because I know some places like Winners or Homesense it might just be one category, “toys,” and you might have actually bought a book, but we kind of need to see exactly what you purchased for us to be able to put that receipt through. Obviously, there’s better receipts than others, but that’s again, we need to be able to see on that receipt what you purchased. So we hope we’ve been helpful for you today to understand a few of the items that maybe were kind of in the gray area for you and make things a little easier when it comes to sending your reimbursements. Thanks for coming today. Yes, thank you very much.