The following statement was issued today by Roger Grimes, Minister for Education. It was also read in the House of Assembly:

Public Consultation on Education

In January 1996, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador committed to consulting the public on educational reform. This promise was communicated to the public through a document released by the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador titled, Ready for a Better Tomorrow.

The campaign document stated and I quote, "We are committed to an open, on-going process of dialogue and discussion on all elements of implementing education reform before decisions are made," and went on to say, "There will be extensive public consultation before any new school viability rules are adopted." A further commitment was made to not change the rules with respect to busing until after the consultation process.

In keeping with this commitment 19 public consultations were held throughout Newfoundland and Labrador during September and October of this year. I personally attended all 19 meetings along with officials from the Department of Education.

We heard more than 250 presentations with respect to a range of topics. Three particular issues - school viability, the designation of uni-denominational schools, and student transportation were dealt with in detail at all meetings.

The meetings were attended by close to 5,000 people. In addition to the submissions presented at the meetings, almost 1,000 people took the time to complete a response form attached to the consultation document.

I will briefly mention a few of the highlights gleaned from the presentations and the response forms:

• The most signification finding was the widespread support shown by the public for not bussing students further than the school nearest their home. (i.e. neighbourhood schools). The response forms demonstrated 76.6 per cent support for this concept.
• 71.9 per cent of respondents to the response form agreed that it is inappropriate to provide additional resources to maintain a school when a better learning opportunity for students is available nearby. The same view was reflected in the submissions at the meetings.
• 65.5 per cent supported maintenance and/or development of multi-grading in small schools to avoid busing primary (K-3) students long distances. This was clearly reinforced by presenters as well.

With respect to transportation/busing issues, there was consensus that government busing guidelines should allow school boards the flexibility to deal with local situations such as road and weather conditions.

With respect to the exercise of parental preference regarding school designations, there was no consensus as to how the preference for a uni-denominational school should be expressed although there was general agreement that government, through the school boards, must fully explain the designation process to the public and ensure that parents understand the consequences of choosing each available option.

This government has demonstrated clearly that it considers the views of the people to be important in making ongoing decisions with respect to educational reform. The views presented to us during public consultation hearings and through the public consultation response form will be seriously considered as we draft legislation for a new Schools Act/Education Act to be considered by this legislature.

Today I am releasing a report of the Ministerial Consultation Process to all members of the House of Assembly, to our educational partners (the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association; the Newfoundland and Labrador School Boards Association; the Newfoundland and Labrador Home and School Federation; the Denominational Education Councils) and to the media. When the draft legislation is finalized, it too will be shared with our educational partners prior to debate in this legislature. Then we will all be in a position to assess to what degree the public input influenced the final decisions.

• NOTE: The document Structuring the Education System: A Report
  • of the Ministerial Comnsultation Process is available on the government's Internet site (www.gov.nl.ca) under Publications On-Line.