The United Conservative Party says school boards across Alberta would have more money for education if the government didn't hit them with the carbon tax.

Education Minister David Eggen says everyone needs to be involved in cutting back on carbon emissions.

"It's absolutely essential that schools are involved in energy reduction and education around that," Eggen says. "The places where we can save the most money, which is what we are meant to be doing is in these buildings that we own together and so for us to be able to provide opportunities for energy efficiency for our more than 1,700 schools around the province, it's absolutely necessary to do so."

He says not teaching students about energy efficiency is a poor choice.