Tweaks to education bill may not impress critics: minister

We feel there should be an extensive period of consultation and discussion

... and we don’t have that confidence right now.

The province’s Education Minister is not convinced amendments to changes he is making to the province’s Education Act will satisfy those concerned with the changes.

The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation, the Saskatchewan School Boards Association and the NDP have all called for the proposed changes — known as Bill 63 — to be scrapped.

If passed, the law will give Minister of Education Don Morgan more power over the province’s school boards.

Morgan confirmed he would be introducing amendments Wednesday night to the proposed changes, but said he suspects those groups “will still have some concerns.”

Bill 63 is expected to pass by the end of the week.

There have been protests — including one Wednesday afternoon — over the proposed changes.

SSBA president Shawn Davidson has said the law would turn school boards into the face, not the voice, of education in the province.

In April, Morgan indicated he would work with the SSBA to tweak parts of the law. He wouldn’t at that time say specifically what the potential amendments could be, but they were expected to be tabled at a meeting Wednesday night.

Morgan has said he wants the law to allow him to “maintain the ability” to control certain duties and responsibilities of boards.

That, according to Morgan, includes salary structures, administration, how busing contracts take place and joint buying.

He says school boards will maintain the “basic duties they have always had,” managing staffing and “flexibility ” in how they spend the money provided to them by the province.

That signalled Morgan was entering Wednesday night’s committee meeting with a plan to leave certain powers in the hands of school boards while centralizing a significant portion of decisionmaking abilities to his office.

Sections of the law allowing Morgan to give written directions to school boards, and forcing school boards to take any steps necessary to comply with him, are likely to be in place when the law passes.

NDP education critic Carla Beck says Bill 40 “fundamentally changes education” and the Saskatchewan Party government is “not listening to the people of this province.”

The government maintains the changes being made are a response to the findings of a governance review panel that indicated strong support for a local voice in school board government.

But the STF, SSBA and NDP have all raised concerns over the level of consultation over the proposed law.

“That’s a huge frustration,” STF president Patrick Maze said earlier this week. “When there’s bills that are going to substantially change the legislation and the framework in which we operate, we feel that there should be an extensive period of consultation and discussion to make sure that we’re guaranteed to be doing what’s in the best interest of our students, and we don’t have that confidence right now.”

Beck said the bill — introduced as part of the 2017-18 budget — should be further scrutinized. If introduced as a regular bill, it would have had 20 hours of legislative scrutiny. As a budget bill, it will be scrutinized for five hours.