April 24, 1996
(Education)

Framework Agreement Education Reform - Backgrounder

Roger Grimes, Minister of Education, has announced further details of the Framework Agreement on School Board Consolidation between government and the churches.

Mr. Grimes says: "I am pleased to announce further details of the framework agreement to clarify some confusion which may have resulted from recent public statements."

The framework agreement achieves most of the objectives which government had put forward in Adjusting the Course which was its response to the recommendations contained in the Williams Royal Commission. In particular, there will be 10 interdenominational school boards which will be elected for a four year period. School board elections will be held at the same time as municipal elections. There will be a Provincial School Construction Board which will be responsible for allocating money for school construction, renovations and extensions, based on needs and provincial priorities.

Each school board will consist of 18 members, all of whom shall be elected. Thirteen of these members shall be elected to represent a denomination or a group of denominations, and five shall be elected at large. Each voter shall be given the opportunity to vote for representatives of one of the denominations and also for the five "at large" members.

The number of denominational representatives within the 13 shall be calculated on the basis of the number of members of each denomination residing within the school district.

Mr. Grimes noted that this structure is the same as that in government's earlier proposal except that the earlier proposal indicated that boards would consist of 15 members, 10 of whom would represent the denominations. This was considered reasonable since most school boards now have at least 18 members and the fact that the new boards will have jurisdiction over a larger geographic area.

Mr. Grimes says: "Under the previous proposal, all schools would remain as they are for the first year. This will also be the case under the framework agreement."

Under the previous proposal, parents would be asked to indicate, through a survey, whether they wished their children to attend a school which operated under the philosophy of one denomination - a uni- denominational school - or a school which operated under a common philosophy - an inter-denominational school. Following this survey, the school board would designate schools as being uni-denominational or inter-denominational. No change would take place until the second year. Under the framework agreement, schools would also remain as they are for the first year, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, Integrated or Joint Service.

Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, and Integrated schools would be designated uni-denominational. Joint service schools would be designated inter-denominational. Under the framework agreement, the school board will decide whether the designation of a school will change to inter-denominational. All new schools, and schools which consolidate will be designated inter-denominational.

Students will be permitted to attend the school nearest their homes provided there is space available.

Over the next few weeks provincial parameters will be developed to determine whether schools will close, or whether new schools will be opened. These parameters will include, but will not be limited to:

• guidelines to identify schools which must exist;
• the number of teachers that are necessary to provide a basic minimum education program;
• the most efficient ways to provide for school busing; and
• estimates of the number of students that will be in each area.

The minister noted that there have been several public statements with respect to denominational committees which will exist in each school board. Mr. Grimes says: "This is not different from government's original proposal. It was always our intention to provide for church representation at the school board level."

Each school board shall have a Roman Catholic denominational committee, a Pentecostal denominational committee, and an Integrated denominational committee. These committees will advise the school board on denominational matters.

For uni-denominational schools the denominational committees will determine and direct religious education, teacher assignment for religious education, pastoral care, religious activities and observances, the school philosophy, and aspects of the curriculum affecting religious beliefs. The committee will also determine and direct student admission policy for uni-denominational schools, recommend to the board teachers to be hired for uni-denominational schools, recommend to the board teachers who are to be dismissed for denominational cause, and approve the use of uni-denominational schools outside of school hours.

For inter-denominational schools the denominational committees shall determine direct religious education, teacher assignment for religious education, pastoral care, religious activities and observances, and advise the board on the curriculum affecting religious beliefs.

Each denominational committee will consist of three to eight people.

Mr. Grimes stressed that government will proceed with its request that the federal government amend Term 17, as approved by the people of the province in the recent referendum.

Mr. Grimes says: "Our goal has always been to reorganize the administration of the school system to remove some of the inefficiencies in the current system and to reduce the amount of administrative overburden in the system. It is our wish to redirect some of the monies realized from these changes to the classroom where they can have the greatest impact on children."

The minister emphasized: "These changes represent a significant first step to implement the changes recommended by the Williams' Royal Commission. It would be too disruptive to the system to attempt to implement all of the recommendations at the same time. Over the next few months other recommendations will be phased in within a reasonable timeframe."

Mr. Grimes said that legislation will be introduced during the present sitting of the House of Assembly to create 10 new, interim, school boards by September 1996. The members of these boards will hold office until the next school board elections which are scheduled for November 1997. These school boards will immediately set out to hire senior staff, including a director of education, and to begin a transition period. During this transition period, the present 27 boards will continue to exist. It is anticipated that these existing boards will be phased out by December 31, 1996 at which time the new boards will assume responsibility for administering the system.

Mr. Grimes says: "I am confident that this framework agreement will allow us, working with stakeholders to assist in the planning, to move forward in an efficient and reasonable manner and be consistent with the objectives that government set out prior to the referendum."