One System Sask (OSS) is a group of people who have come together with a common stance. They all believe that it’s time Saskatchewan has a single, unifying and secular school system.
But is it too little too late considering the budget was released in March?
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OSS spokesperson David Richards doesn’t think so; he believes the current political and economic climate is the perfect time to start a discussion, especially after a court ruling cut funding to non-Catholics attending Catholic schools.
“It is a system that specifically gives preferential treatment to one religious group over the other,” Richards said on the phone from Regina.
The group has members from across the province who believe the current system is old fashioned. They say what was once valuable in the province to protect a certain religious group is no longer the case in our multi-cultural society.
On top of that, Richards said a unified system will save administration costs.
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But the province isn’t supportive of the idea, saying it was brought up before the last budget in March and rejected because an amalgamated system didn’t provide enough savings.
“We’ve been well served for the last hundred plus years by having a public and separate school system. That’s what we’ve built our infrastructure around … both school systems we have are large enough to fully achieve the economies of scales that might exist,” Education Minister Don Morgan said.
That answer doesn’t sit well with Richards, who plans to reach out to Morgan for answers.
“I would love to be able to speak with Minister Morgan about this. If he’s willing to share the numbers that show there are no cost savings I’d love to be able to see them, but the reason behind doing this goes beyond financial,” Richards said.
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