Minister postpones split of South Slave school boards
Terry Halifax
Northern News Services
Hay River (Jan 08/01) - In what has been described as a "marriage made in hell," the minister of education has decided to keep the South Slave Divisional Education Council (SSDEC) together for the sake of the children.
Responding to a petition from the Hay River Education District to withdraw from the SSDEC, Minister of Education Jake Ootes, said he will defer any decision on the split until a review of regional social programs is complete and said any decision made now, "would be premature."
Ootes added that his decision was also based on a lack of government dollars to fund two separate boards.
The GNWT has one fund for the South Slave school administration and Ootes said splitting the boards would add extra costs or leave both boards without enough money to provide adequate administration.
"I'd have to be sure we followed a consistent approach in funding and in this case it would require more dollars," Ootes said. "I have a responsibility to ensure that there is equity and sustainability across the board in the territories to fund school boards."
Concerns
As well, Ootes said other South Slave DEAs have expressed concern over the financial implications of the split.
"They have not had time to consider their own particular options, in the event that change was ever made," he said.
Chair of the Hay River Education District 14, Andrew Butler, said the minister's decision is not unlike the GNWT's involvement in the selection of a power supplier in Hay River.
"It kind of reminds me of when the government stepped into the Hay River power thing, where they said, 'No, hold it, we're going to do a review.'" Butler said.
The Hay River board has been trying to split from the SSDEC since it's inception and Butler said the split is inevitable.
He said either through geography or language there is a common bond that unites the other school districts, but the southern boards were lumped together out of convenience to the government.
"We were the last district that was formed and that was because we were a family that really didn't want to get together," Butler said.
"All of the other divisions have something that ties them together."
"The South Slave is really different; it's got three different aboriginal linguistic groupings, --although we are only funded on the basis of one," he said. "I've heard it described as a marriage made in hell."
The Hay River trustees met last Wednesday night to discuss the minister's decision and discussed the district's next move. Options considered were to wait until the review was complete, petitioning for a tax-funded board such as Yellowknife's public Yellowknife1, direct funding or a boycott of the SSDEC.
Butler proposed one option might be a court challenge based on the same principle of the Friends of Democracy challenge over extra seats in the Legislative Assembly based on Yellowknife's population.
Petitions
The board decided to meet with Don Morrison of the Department of Education to discuss petitions to increase Hay River's weight of representation on the board or to obtain direct funding and buying back services from the SSDEC. As well, they will be requesting terms of reference from the minister regarding the review.
"The minister didn't slam doors; he's leaving it open, so we're free to do another petition," Butler said.
Once the GNWT completes the review of the regional administrative structure Ootes said, he may revisit the issue.
"As these other issues are resolved, then changes to governance could be, and may be considered," Ootes said.
Superintendent of the SSDEC, Curtis Brown, said from an administrative position, the decision means business as usual for his office.
