School bus dispute could use a little maturity
Catholic board looks like the petulant child, but public trustees have been picking a fight
When my little brother and I would fight in the car on long family road trips, my exasperated father would pull over the and roar: “This is the last time I’m saying this is the last time.” Now I know how he felt. The Edmonton Public and Edmonton Catholic school boards were on the brink of entering into a joint agreement on school busing. Under the terms of the arrangement, the school districts would create something called the Edmonton Student Transportation Authority, a standalone corporation that would run bus service for both public and Catholic students. The boards started negotiating the deal in 2014. It was supposed to be in operation by 2016.
Still, we have no deal. And that’s maddening.
In our sprawling, booming city, we can’t build schools fast enough in new neighbourhoods to keep up with demand, which means students are often bused long distances. And in a city where schools offer all kinds of specialty programs, we have lots of kids travelling by bus to faraway schools, too. Consolidating and rationalizing bus service could save both school districts millions of dollars, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and cut long commute times for students. In other words, the deal was a potential win for taxpayers, for kids, for parents and for the environment.
The problem? The two school boards are showing about as much maturity as my brother and I did on those road trips, when we’d poke and prod and pinch and tease and taunt each other.
For months now, Edmonton public trustees have been yanking the Catholic board’s chain. Various public trustees have taken provocative, sometimes mischievous, stances, advocating, for example, that Edmonton public schools start teaching Catholic religion classes, or advocating for the Catholic school system to be eliminated.
Of course, elected public trustees have every right to engage in debate about education policy. But there are logical consequences to this sort of political provocation.
How enthusiastic would you be about getting into a partnership with someone who seems intent on destroying you and your raison d’etre? That’s not a partnership. It’s a hostile takeover.
If we want the authority to work, if we want co-operation between the two school boards, we need some good faith to start with.
Now, though, it’s the Catholics who look petty and petulant. The public board has wrong-footed them.
Board chair Terry Harris, doing his best to channel Aretha Franklin, said his district won’t enter into a busing agreement unless they get more “respect.” Which makes it easy, now, to paint the Catholics as the ones wrecking the deal.
(I used a similar back-seat tactic, to excellent effect. I would goad and tease and provoke my little brother until he hit me. Then I would tattle, “He hit me and I didn’t do anything.” Worked like a charm. Suddenly, he was the problem child and I was the good girl, even though I’d been the one winding him up.)
The Catholic trustees, like my baby brother, took the bait. Instead of turning the other cheek, they’ve elected to take umbrage, putting at risk a deal that would have saved them a lot of money and made life better for students and their parents.
Now they look like the problem child, which gives the public board the chance to position itself as the reasonable, innocent party.
Public trustee Michael Janz lost no time in blaming the “egos” of Catholic trustees for the impasse.
“Ironically, the attempts to ‘demand respect’ by the Catholic trustees by stalling sharing, may end up backfiring entirely and expediting the wholesale elimination of separate Catholic and public school board,” Janz wrote on his blog.
Education Minister David Eggen is in the same unenviable position as my dad. Bill 28, which passed last fall, gave the province power to “direct” school districts to share busing. But it’s tough to be the sort of dad who tells the bickering kids to get out and walk.
“Minister Eggen is sure that EPSB and ECSD will work together to come to an agreement in a timely manner that is in the best interest of students in Edmonton,” the minister’s press secretary, Lindsay Harvey, said in a statement Wednesday.
I’m sure Eggen would rather the two school boards grew up and made a deal.
That can’t happen when the trustees are less mature than the kids on the buses.
Serving the public in elected office is no easy gig and school board trustees may have one of the toughest yet most unheralded jobs in politics.
They juggle the competing demands of students, parents, teachers, staff and government while coping with limited resources and ubiquitous criticism — all without enjoying many of the perks, pay and recognition enjoyed by politicians in senior levels of government.
But the majority of school trustees knew this before seeking office. Many trustees wanted the job because they wanted to serve the community and have a say in how its children are educated — both laudable motives.
Given this, it’s disappointing to see that a shared busing agreement between Edmonton’s public and Catholic school boards could get stonewalled because of a rocky relationship between the boards.
Edmonton Public trustees unanimously approved a motion Tuesday to create a joint Edmonton Student Transportation Authority and requested the Catholic board decide on the proposal by March 15 to be ready for the next school year.
But Edmonton Catholic trustees want to see more “respect” from public trustees first, board chairman Terry Harris said Tuesday. Harris didn’t give examples. He may, however, have been referring to a proposal by public trustee Michael Janz to offer Catholic programs as an alternative program. Janz also opined that Catholic school enrolment is artificially inflated because the province disproportionately funds the construction of new Catholic schools.
The Catholic board may also resent its opposite number for rejoining the Public School Boards’ Association of Alberta, which advocates for a single publicly funded school system.
It’s understandable how some Catholic board members might take offence, but there is little to be gained by holding a grudge, especially if it derails a partnership that promises to shorten ride times for students and save taxpayers and parents money. The idea makes enough sense that some trustees expect the province to mandate a busing merger if the boards don’t come up with one themselves.
A 2014 study found that combining the bus systems would save the boards $2.5 million to $2.7 million annually by combining half-empty buses driving the same routes to public and Catholic schools metres apart. More importantly, harmonizing the system would replace the time kids need to spend riding the bus.
Trustees on both sides need to set aside their differences, thicken their skins and do their jobs protecting the public purse and championing our children.