Reports argue against school board changes

According to a recent study, completed in part by researchers at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN), the changes being made to the provincial school system are a step in the wrong direction.

The provincial government is in the process of reducing the number of school boards under the provincial Department of Education from five to two — one Englishlanguage board and one French.

As reported, a study published online this month by MUN’s Harris Centre, “Understanding regional governance in Newfoundland and Labrador,” has a post-script criticizing the change.

“As we noted … some of the challenges identified by school board representatives were the huge geography of some districts and the equitable distribution of resources,” it reads.

“This board reduction will do little to solve these issues and will in fact serve to accentuate these concerns.”

The more than 200-page study was not focused on education, but looked at governance and decision-making bodies in the province.

NDP education critic Dale Kirby said the post-script statement mirrors what he has been thinking and saying: school boards should not be cut back to the extent announced.

“It’s just a larger and larger number of people to try and represent,” he said of the new configuration, set to come into effect in September.

He said the change reduces the sense of control at the local level.

“It’s about people in communities … being able to make decisions about schools and about their (own) schools in their communities, (and) they are not necessarily the decisions that are made elsewhere,” he said.

He referenced a separate, national study on education involving MUN researchers, titled “School Boards Matter,” published January 2013.

Kirby said that report shows reducing the number of school boards is not likely to lead to a positive outcome.

The report looks at school district governance and criticism of school boards nationwide.

“We’re going in the wrong direction,” said Liberal MHA Jim Bennett.

“The professional studies validate what the opposition has been saying,” he said.

The provincial Department of Education was asked Thursday, July 11 for response to the comments of the Liberal and NDP critics, but The Telegram was unable to get a response to questions as of deadline Monday.

Education Minister Clyde Jackman has previously said the changes being brought in by the province will see regional offices remaining in the local school districts.

“There will still be a strong, regional presence in (the offices) in Gander, Corner Brook and Happy Valley-Goose Bay,” reads a government statement issued budget day, as the change in school boards was announced.

“Senior executive and managers and itinerant supports for students and teachers will be in place, on the ground, in all the former school districts.”

According to provincial government statistics, enrolment in K-12 schools in the province has dropped by about 14,000 students since 2004.