REGINA – The province is eyeing “transformative change” as a way of saving money and getting the budget back to balance. One area the premier spoke about on Tuesday during the throne speech was potentially restructuring health regions and school divisions.
READ MORE: Saskatchewan eyes ‘transformational’ change in government to save money
The premier said amalgamation isn’t out of the question on Tuesday, and on Friday, the Education Minister weighed in.
“Do we need to have 28 school divisions? Is there a better model to have and to not be afraid to have those discussions,” Don Morgan said at an event in Saskatoon.
Before any concrete decisions are made though, Morgan said the government will set up a consultation process with groups like the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation and the Saskatchewan School Boards Association.
“It’s not our intention to come out and dictate and say this is that, a particular direction that we’re going to go to,” Morgan said.
He added information on the consultation process will come soon after the June 1 budget.
“We didn’t hear anything about amalgamation during the election, that certainly would have been a better time to bring that up,” Education Critic Carla Beck said.
“I think this throws another curve at school boards that are already dealing with unknowns in the budget.”
Morgan said unless they received a concrete recommendation over the summer, there would be no structure change in the 2016/17 school year.
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