Bill 105: English boards cautious

Watered-down education reform still needs work, committee told

The Couillard Liberals have launched another component of their education reform, and they’re hoping this time they get it right.

Bill 105 is a watered down, “less catastrophic” version of the now defunct Bill 86, said a relieved Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) on Wednesday, Day 1 of two days of hearings. Bill 86 would have abolished school board elections, trampling on English minority rights, the association has argued in the past.

The new piece of legislation completely sets aside the question of school board elections, and looks instead at giving parent representatives the right to vote at meetings of the council of commissioners, and be appointed to the office of school board vice-chair. The bill aims to give more decision-making power to principals through the creation of a resource allocation committee with executory powers, composed mainly of principals.

But it also gives the minister the additional power to issue directives to school boards. As it stands, the minister’s actions are limited to ordering an inquiry or placing a problem-ridden school board under trusteeship.

QESBA president Jennifer Maccarone argued the bill still needs a lot of work before it is constitutionally acceptable. “We need to ensure that the power resides in the hands of the rights’ holders, and the rights’ holders are not only the parents, they are the community at large. So that means, for instance, the resource allocation committee that has executory powers, that’s usurping the control of that committee that has been prescribed under the law to represent the rights’ holders.

“So we’re saying, ‘Keep your resource allocation committee, make it consultative, not executory powers, so that we can continue to work together,’ ” she said.

For example, Maccarone said, the committee may decide to close a school, or not support an educational project that a school board really wants to present to the community. To overturn a decision by the committee, two-thirds of commissioners would need to vote against, with a letter explaining why, Maccarone noted.

The English Parents’ Committee Association also expressed reservations, with vice-president Mike Nalecz telling MNAs the work might be too taxing for principals, who could decide to spend less time focusing on their own schools.

Education Minister Sébastien Proulx remarked that the tone at the hearings was “different” and that is because groups now know where the government is headed, he said. He and Premier Philippe Couillard last week announced there will be six weeks of parallel public consultations about the future of Quebec schools, with a special focus on pedagogy and specific proposals, such as making school mandatory until adulthood. He said the government is also spending over $500 million to renovate schools.

Proulx told reporters he would use the new powers granted to him in the bill only in “exceptional cases.” And he said two parents’ committees Wednesday told him the new powers were necessary.

Corrine Payne from the Fédération des comités de parents said some people think they are above the law and “in those special circumstances, the minister needs to be able to intervene to correct the situation and return the équilibre ( balance) where it needs to be.”

Still, the minister’s new powers, which could extend to merging schools, is a sticking point, argued Maccarone. “We’re saying that the minister should have some powers under extraordinary circumstances where he must intervene because of irregularities, but that needs to be properly defined in the bill in order for us to accept it. Right now, the powers that he’s giving himself allows him to make changes that are unconstitutional, and it’s our intention to maintain our rights,” she said.