Alberta’s proposed new Education Act is silent on the controversy brewing in Morinville over secular education, however Education Minister Dave Hancock says the issue will be addressed by the coming school year.
While fielding questions on the Education Act, introduced in the legislature last week, Hancock said the Morinville issue will be dealt with much sooner — by September, in fact.
Hancock also noted an earlier draft of the act included changes to “the anomaly that is St. Albert” and its surrounding communities. The proposed changes would allow for a switch between the public Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools and the separate St. Albert Protestant Schools.
“In fact [St. Albert Protestant] uses very little of the authorities that it might have as a minority faith board. And [this would result in] having GSACRD as the separate board, because it actually in practice operates much like a separate board,” said Hancock.
The problem, he said, is neither board has agreed to such a thing.
Protestant chair Joan Trettler said her board is quite frankly opposed to it.
“We believe that separate boards actually have more powers than public boards,” she said. “Once a separate board has been established, by the local electorate — because they do vote on it — they have the right to elect a trustee, and they have the right to collect taxes, and they have the right to exist.”
A public board, she explained, does not have such rights automatically enshrined.
St. Albert Catholic is also opposed to changing the status quo.
“We’ve been the public system for a long, long time, and you’ve got to understand that there are some implications that go along with that, that we would have to talk to our stakeholders about,” said board chair Lauri-Ann Turnbull. “I think we’d have to look at it.”
Turnbull noted the scope of such a change also poses challenges.
“We are three wards. We are not only St. Albert — we are also Morinville and Legal,” she said. “Whatever decisions we make would have to be good for all three wards. It is a little more complicated than just saying ‘Yeah, let’s flip.’”
Neither side is opposed to further discussion on the matter, though no such talks are planned.
