On Monday, March 15th the Progressive Conservative Party, under Brian Pallister, introduced the contents of the Education Modernization Act, Bill 64, The K-12 Education Commission Report and Better Education Starts Today, the government’s response to the Commission Report was released. The Provincial Government is proposing significant changes to the education system.
Here are some potential areas of concern regarding Bill-64:
- Principals and vice-principals are not to be included in bargaining units consisting of teachers
- We strongly believe that principals and vice-principals are teachers first and foremost, and for 102 years they have been the educational leaders in both schools and MTS. This must not change.
- How will this affect the relationships within schools?
- How does this help students?
- School Community Councils
- Who will volunteer?
- Will they have a say in teacher and student discipline?
- Will they have budgetary control?
- Will principals have to answer to the SCC?
- Does this take away from the professional judgement and autonomy of teachers and principals?
- How do socio-economic factors affect this? Are there equity implications?
- How does this help students?
- 15 Regional Catchment Areas
- The inequity of having half the schools in the Province in one region (Winnipeg) and the other half spread out over 15 other regions, but all with equal representation on the Provincial Advisory Council on Education
- 8,000 teachers in the Winnipeg region, 340 in the smallest.
- Provincial Education Authority
- How has centralized decision-making proven itself over the last 12 months?
- Who will be appointed to these positions and who holds them accountable?
- How does this help students?
- Increased standardized testing
- How does this help students?