Sharing of school buildings encouraged
Alberta’s education minister will reward school boards that opt to share school buildings, he told trustees from across the province.
Education Minister David Eggen pointed to a new shared public and Catholic school building with a civic centre in Grimshaw as a “signpost for the whole province,” as he spoke to trustees assembled at an Alberta School Boards’ Association meeting Monday in Edmonton.
The joint northwestern Alberta schools opened in September and accommodate the K-12 Grimshaw Public School, the K-9 Holy Family Catholic School and the Mile Zero Regional Multiplex under one roof.
“I certainly will encourage both capital projects and other programming to be shared as much as possible. And you know, I’ll reward people who make those choices,” Eggen told reporters.
As school boards across the province compete for school construction dollars, that could mean he’ll prioritize a joint project for funding and approval, Eggen said.
Although he wouldn’t name them, Eggen said he had specific school districts in mind when he introduced a bill last week that would give him the power to “direct two or more boards to co-operate with respect to the transportation of students.”
If passed, Bill 28 would amend the School Act to allow the education minister to direct school boards to make “specific transportation agreements.”
He hopes school boards will see the impending legislation and strike agreements without his intervention.
“Nothing frustrates people in communities more than to see two sets of yellow buses heading down the same road, right?” Eggen said.
“The economy’s starting to recover, but our revenues are not recovering yet. I’m challenging all school boards now to make ways to save money and to share resources.”
Eggen’s push for more sharing may be a hard sell to some Catholic school boards.
The Alberta Catholic School Trustees’ Association (ACSTA) has a policy stating the organization, and its member boards, “oppose the joint use of school buildings with public school boards in any manner that has the effect of undermining or interrupting the full permeation of Catholic values and beliefs.”
The policy also said Catholic boards must seek and receive the support of the local bishop and the association before developing any joint school project.
Former Edmonton Catholic school trustee Patricia Grell unsuccessfully advocated earlier this year for that board to lobby the ACSTA to relax its guidelines to allow more co-operation and efficiency.
Public and Catholic school boards in some communities, such as Fort McMurray, already share busing services to save money and time.
Edmonton’s public and Catholic boards have been negotiating a potential shared school busing arrangement for five years.
A 2014 estimate said sharing buses could save the boards $2.5 million per year.
In an email Monday, Edmonton Catholic school board chairman Terry Harris said the mostly new trustees have yet to review the proposal.
An Edmonton Public Schools spokeswoman said last week trustees from both districts are arranging a meeting to discuss shared busing.