Alberta School Boards Association president Heather Welwood expects a roller-coaster ride of sorts for school boards and school trustees over the next year.
She said there will be significant challenges, with the followup to the Inspiring Education report recently released by the provincial government planning education in the future, a new education act expected, implementation of Setting the Direction for Special Education and the education minister hinting at an extension to the five-year agreement with the Alberta Teachers’ Association’s contracts.
“Of course, all of this will be taking place in an atmosphere of continued financial pressure on school boards, resulting almost unilaterally from the provincial government’s failure to live up to its commitment to fully fund the Alberta Average Weekly Wage settlement that it reached with our teachers,” said Welwood, at the ASBA spring general meeting held at the Capri Hotel on Monday.
“So ladies and gentleman make sure your table tray is in the locked upright position and your seatbelt is securely fastened around your hips because we’re going to be experiencing a little turbulence ahead.”
The meeting drew close to 350 registered representatives from 61 boards, other education-related associations and Alberta Education on Monday and it continues today.
Education Minister Dave Hancock was not in attendance but sent a taped message to start off the meeting.
Welwood said the province reached a deal with the ATA on teachers salaries in the 2007-2008 school year and school boards were not asked to be part of the deal, but were asked — some would even say coerced — to implement it through collective agreement.
“The province promised to fund the deal. They didn’t. We’re left holding the bag and the bag is empty,” Welwood said. She said she knows the province didn’t do it deliberately, expecting a continued robust economy over the course of the agreement, but the provincial government’s rosy perspective led to a trap, with an agreement that provided for an escalation of teacher’s salaries without any provision for an adjustment to the agreement if times got tough.
“The truth is we’re all now stuck, stuck in the muck. The province is in it and they’re not honouring their commitment. The teachers are in it. They’re seen as getting significant wage increases as others are losing their jobs. And yes we’re in it up to our knees and for some of you up to your waists,” Welwood said.
Welwood also spoke about last week’s Inspiring Education report, which talks of governance teams with appointed community members overseeing school districts. Welwood said she was pleased that both Premier Ed Stelmach and Hancock have come out firmly in support of locally-elected school boards.
But Welwood said Inspiring Education did send a message that school boards need to change how they govern and not make decisions in isolation or operate in a vacuum, but engage students, parents and the community, including school councils and local Chambers of Commerce, to ensure each student succeeds.
sobrien@www.reddeeradvocate.com