Rocky View Schools hosted about 140 provincial trustees and provincial Education Minister Dave Hancock, May 3 to discuss Bill 18, The Education Act.
The legislation was tabled April 27 and is said to give local boards more autonomy.
The Act is the result of a three-year process, said Hancock.
“(The Education Act) enables school boards to use natural person powers to be nimble and to adapt to change. If it’s about education, unless the Act says they can’t do it, they can do it,” he said.
Highlights of the yet-to-be adopted legislation include increasing the age students can attend high school to 21, raising the mandatory attendance age from 16 to 17, requiring local boards to tackle bullying in and out of school and letting divisions determine the best way to provide safe transportation for students.
The Act, if approved, will update the School Act, the current framework for educational governance in the province. The School Act’s last amendments were in 1988.
“A lot of things will allow boards to act where under previous legislation, we had to ask the minister,” said Bruce Pettigrew, RVS board chair who described the previous relationship with divisions and the education minister as a “master-servant” relationship. “Now… a school board can do what it needs to do. It makes boards more responsible for their communities.”
Pettigrew planned to read the entire document and said “the devil’s in the details” with such pieces of legislation.
The proposed Act also includes updates to First Nations’ students, updated definitions of independent and resident students and provides criteria for establishing separate school districts.
The Act isn’t expected to be approved in the spring session of the Legislature, but will continue to be discussed and refined. To give your feedback on the act, visit www.education.alberta.ca/engage
