Not issue by issue but understanding 'Education'..

Not issue by issue but understanding 'Education'..

There are some great opportunities right now for all of us interested in and concerned about our public education system to address some of its fundamental premises. The government, as we know, is set to revamp the Education Act. RIGHT NOW there is a window of opportunity to let our elected representatives know what we want and expect around the issues of HOW we formally educate our children and WHAT we want our public education system to look like in Alberta.

These overarching questions require our thought and energy to address. This is where the public conversation should be focused just now. Of course there are specific issues and operational concerns, there always will be; however, the opportunity of influencing legislative reform only comes about once a generation (if even that). Dollars and cents do matter. We all understand that public institutions have budgets and that the efficient and fair allocation of those scarce resources is an important part of the work of our elected officials. But the chance to offer-up our collective thinking on higher-order concerns should, FOR JUST NOW, trump preoccupation with one particular fiscal issue.

Some people are encouraging a third party investigation that would require more time and money, to look into the cost and processes that went into Calgary's Education building.  This signals that there is a significant issues that need addressing. Unfortunately there is a real risk that a significant part of the conversations around education that we have been engaged in are going to be set aside. For instance, what environment do we believe our public school board trustees and administration should work in;because that is part of the conversation.

We also believe that decisions such as building new infrastructure need to be transparent; the public should know WHY the decision was made to build a new site and what the costs are, up-front. They should have an opportunity to provide feedback. And the deliberations/debate over  fiscal decisions should be clearly stated in the minutes of trustees meetings which should be easily accessible to the public.

Now, having said that: our passion and focus just now is about expressing our concerns and suggestions over the proposed Education Act and to take the conversation where it really needs to go in our communities. We started this conversation after watching 'A Race to Nowhere'. This goes further than classroom size, IPP's and PAT's ( and Education building costs). Although these things are all of importance we cannot address any of them wisely without an understanding of WHY these things matter. What are we trying to protect or create?

We think that we can make more significant changes if we focus on what we need as we move forward rather than focusing exclusively on the past. We expect the current board to be fiscally responsible, accountable, and collaborative - and we are looking forward to working collaboratively with the Board on issues of import.  But we cannot begin to collaborate unless there is a sense of trust. We hope that CBE administration and  the Board will  answer the questions that members of the public are putting forth, without the need to spend more valuable resources and time. 

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Eryn Kelly and Leslie Newton's stakeholder report