ASBA to create fund in case of shut down

ASBA should be subject to freedom of information rules, Colin Craig says.

The Alberta School Boards Association wants to set aside a $2-million “wind down” fund in the event elected school boards are eliminated in the province.

An internal document obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said the school boards association needs $2 million to meet its legal obligations, such as leases and severing its 19 staff “in the event that the association ceases to be a going concern.”

The document says the association faces “a number of significant risk factors,” including national trends in the role and viability of school boards and “the pending provincial election where the continued viability of school boards in Alberta may be brought into question.”

Earlier this year, Nova Scotia eliminated its seven elected anglophone school boards and replaced them with an appointed advisory council. In 2013, Newfoundland and Labrador consolidated its English school boards into one elected board. A Saskatchewan government plan last year to amalgamate all public school boards fizzled when the public opposed the plan.

“This level of activity to disband and/or limit the authority of boards on the national stage is unprecedented,” ASBA president Mary Martin said in a Thursday email.

In the first week of June, school trustees from across the province will be asked to approve the association’s annual budget, which includes the contingency fund. Martin said trustees are cognizant of external threats to their existence.

Edmonton public school board chairwoman Michelle Draper said preparing for such a worst-case scenario is unnecessary and a poor use of the fees school boards pay to the association.

“I’m just disappointed this is the approach they’re taking,” Draper said. “Doom and gloom and secrecy.”

Draper has heard no recent indications Alberta politicians wish to amalgamate or eliminate school boards. The $2 million would be better spent on advocacy and bolstering the skills of trustees, she said.

In a Friday statement, Education Minister David Eggen said his government respects the role of locally elected school boards.

“Approximately 98 per cent of the funding that comes across my desk goes directly to school boards, who are in the best position to make decisions about providing students in their area with a highquality education,” Eggen stated.

Earlier this month, United Conservative Party members passed a resolution with 74 per cent support for “affirming, maintaining and protecting the existence and role of local, democratically elected school boards.”

“Given the NDP’s attacks on school choice while in opposition, and NDP front groups recently advocating for a government attack on school choice, it’s not hard to see why school boards could be worried,” UCP executive director Janice Harrington said Friday.

BUDGET CONCERNS

The Edmonton public school board has long been at odds with the school boards association, saying the $230,000 it pays in annual membership fees give little value in return. Edmonton public wants out, but it must belong to ASBA to enrol employees in a benefits plan.

Edmonton public trustees are readying for a battle at the June meeting in Red Deer. Instead of raising membership fees by seven per cent, as ASBA has proposed, the association should dip into reserves to balance its budget and cut spending on staff by 25 per cent, Edmonton trustees agreed earlier this week.

The CTF also criticized ASBA’s refusal to publicly release its proposed budget or disclose its executive director’s salary.

Is the Alberta School Boards Association (ASBA) planning on using your tax dollars to host another $912 staff Easter Egg Hunt?

Who knows? The organization doesn’t seem interested in publishing its draft $5-million budget online.

That needs to change; the ASBA needs to be much more transparent and accountable with the public.

If you aren’t familiar with the ASBA, it’s an umbrella group for school boards across the province and it is funded with millions of tax dollars each year. Well, technically the entity is funded by large membership fees and revenues that come from local school boards across Alberta, but we know where school boards get their funding — Alberta taxpayers.

While the ASBA falls under the Alberta School Boards Association Act, it isn’t covered by the provincial government’s freedom of information laws.

That means taxpayer watchdog groups like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the media, the public and even its own members face limitations when investigating the ASBA’s activities.

The fact that the ASBA won’t publish its budget online is odd. School boards, local municipalities, and the provincial and federal governments all table their budgets publicly before they’re approved. By publishing their budgets publicly, it allows taxpayers to view the documents and provide feedback to their elected officials before they vote on each budget.

The ASBA hasn’t posted its budget online, but it did post a video about its budget and a “frequently asked questions” document.

Both documents are passwordprotected, but the Canadian Taxpayers Federation obtained a copy of the ASBA’s frequently asked questions file.

The document notes that the ASBA wants to raise the fees school boards pay each year by seven per cent. That means that if school boards across the province approve such an increase at their upcoming meeting in early June, $205,341 will be drained from classrooms and instead funnelled toward the ASBA bureaucracy.

The ASBA claims its funding hasn’t kept up with inflation and notes, “We have approved deficit budgets every year except one since 2009-10.”

However, the frequently asked questions document notes that a trustee asked why salaries are expected to rise at the ASBA while school boards are freezing pay levels for many of their employees.

Another trustee pointed out the large administrative component at the ASBA, asking “why do you have so many administrative assistants?”

Indeed, considering the ASBA’s 19-person staff complement includes seven assistants, it’s a valid question.

Make no mistake, the ASBA could very well be providing some worthwhile services to school boards in Alberta. However, accountability could be improved if Premier Rachel Notley proceeded with three measures:

First, she should give school boards the true power to opt out of the ASBA.

Right now, they’re essentially required to be members due to benefits clauses in their labour agreements. If the ASBA had to earn each school board’s voluntary support, it would likely be more responsive to each board’s concerns.

Second, the ASBA should be brought under provincial freedom of information laws. Again, this would allow taxpayer watchdog groups, the media and the general public to obtain ASBA documents and hold it accountable.

Third, the ASBA should have to disclose its salary and benefit costs to the public – just like many other government bodies in Alberta.

As long as taxpayers are footing the bill for the ASBA, taxpayers deserve to know what it’s doing with public funds.

It’s unfortunate that the ASBA hasn’t taken a more proactive approach to being transparent with taxpayers.

Until it does, stories like this will continue and pressure will mount for the provincial government to take action.

The fact that the ASBA won’t publish its budget online is odd.