REGINA – Fewer, larger school divisions would save money, but Saskatchewan’s education minister said that is not the only reason to restructure public education.
Pat Atkinson announced a series of public meetings over the next six months to discuss four options for restructuring the public school administration system. She said the government has no preferred option and meeting the needs of all children in classrooms is a priority.
One of the options would see the number of school divisions drastically reduced by government, but Atkinson said forced amalgamation is not the preferred route.
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Saskatchewan has 119 school divisions, including 89 public, 22 separate and eight francophone divisions. The Catholic and francophone divisions are not being reviewed through this process. There are 54 public school divisions in Manitoba and 41 in Alberta, where voluntary amalgamation took place in 1994.
Two previous reviews in Sask-atchewan recommended restructuring. In 1991, a committee appointed by the province said school divisions should increase their size to an average of 7,000 students from the present 2,000. In 1993, the school trustees association’s review recommended 35 school divisions with enrolments of 2,500 to 5,000 each.
“Demographics and economic changes are challenging school divisions, particularly in rural Saskatchewan, to continue to provide excellent educational programming,” Atkinson said. “The purpose of this public consultation is to seek input on how we can best work together to structure education to meet the needs of our students for the future.”
The four options presented in a discussion paper include:
- Status quo – The current school division structure would continue and any amalgamation or co-operative ventures would be voluntary.
- School division restructuring – The province would cut the number of public school divisions from 89 to between 15 and 24. Boards of education would be elected through a ward system, and local school councils would be established to replace local boards.
A school council is an advisory group, generally of parents, with no fiscal or decision-making power that may or may not be elected.
- Regional partnership approach – The province would restructure divisions and school councils would be established to work in partnership with other divisions, post-secondary institutions and other organizations.
- Regional learning authorities – Kindergarten to Grade 12 education would be integrated with some post-secondary programs and services.
