Manitoba's plan to eliminate local school boards blasted by trustee

WINNIPEG -- The Manitoba government has released its road map for ushering in sweeping new changes to the province’s education system.

The plan calls for the province’s 37 school divisions to be merged into 15 different regions and locally elected school boards to be eliminated.

It’s a move parent Debra Starr-Roulette hopes will result in more resources in the classroom.

“School divisions should divide in half or divide in some way for more kids to get a better education,” said Starr-Roulette. “Or, to get more resources.”

But not everyone is convinced the plan will lead to better student outcomes.

“It’s a high degree of centralization and it’s a pretty ambitious plan,” said Brian O’Leary, superintendent of Seven Oaks School Division.

Each of the 15 regions would have a director of education, who would work with a newly established provincial education authority. It’s a responsibility O’Leary feels would be a lot for one administrator to handle.

“The Winnipeg region is 250 some schools, just under 100,000 students, probably 8,000 teachers. They’re putting a lot on parent councils so can 250 parent councils get the ear of a director of education for Winnipeg,” said O’Leary.

The elimination of locally elected school boards isn’t sitting well with trustees whose roles would disappear.

“By outlining today’s plan, government has said that there is no need for democratic voice in the provision of education in local public schools,” said Alan Campbell, a trustee and president of the Manitoba School Boards Association.

They would be replaced with the provincial education authority whose members would be appointed by the government to work with directors of education to oversee Kindergarten to Grade 12 across the province.

School community councils made up of parents would also be established, to fill an advisory role to principals on issues in each school.

“The new format takes all of that local interest and throws it out the window, at least in terms of accountability,” said Campbell. “There is zero elected accountability because of course at the top of this system the provincial education authority is appointed by government. They have the same level of accountability as your local health care board.”

Campbell said it’s important parents have a voice in the system but said channels for engagement already exist through school principals, superintendents or their locally elected school board trustee.

“If the minister thinks the department has trouble managing the democratically derived authority that comes with 37 school boards, wait until he assigns school community councils to the 800 schools that are in the province,” Campbell said.

The Manitoba Teachers’ Society feels the plan hasn’t thoroughly addressed one of the biggest issue students face.

“There’s a lot of speaking to outcomes and achievements and assessments and test scores but we know that unless you address child poverty issues first, there’s no need to start looking at all of those other things,” said Nathan Martindale, vice president of the teachers’ society.

The plan calls on the school system to work with others to leverage expertise and resources to address student needs and improve attendance and engagement.

Martindale said the teachers society is also strongly opposed to a portion of the plan which calls for the removal of principals and vice principals from their union.

“We will strongly oppose that decision and fight back with all the force available to us,” he said.

Martindale worries that could create an “adversarial work environment.” He said that could damage the current relationships between teachers and principals and get in the way of them working together in the best interests of students.

The plan also calls for additional provincial funding of $1.6 billion over 4 years. In part because with the elimination of local school boards, the government is also planning to phase out education property taxes. Cullen said the system is an unfair, inequitable and unsustainable taxation model based on a local area’s ability to raise property taxes to fund education.