The president of the Saskatchewan School Board Association (SSBA) said that he’s concerned changes to the Education Act will take away the autonomy of elected school boards.
“When that happens trustees and elected boards become the face of public education, and not the voice of public education,” SSBA president Shawn Davidson said.
The proposed changes would give the education minister power to order school boards to find ways to save money in areas such as transportation and bulk purchasing.
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Davidson said that the public made it clear during the consultation process on education governance changes that they want local, elected trustees making decisions.
“Had we been engaged in this from months ago we’d be in a very different place. Had we been consulted from months ago Bill 63 would not look the same as what it does,” Davidson said.
“If we’d worked together on this from day one I wouldn’t be standing here, because we would have legislation that would be appropriate for our sector moving forward.”
Davidson is concerned this could be another way of achieving the same result as amalgamating school divisions and having appointed trustees, two ideas floated before the budget.
On Thursday night, Education Minister Don Morgan addressed the SSBA. Morgan said that he wants to work with the divisions as the legislation moves forward.
While Davidson wishes this happened sooner, he said the SSBA is open to collaboration.
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