Hay River (Apr 17/06) - Education Minister Charles Dent says he won't agree to a population-based vote structure unless it comes from the entire South Slave school board.

The Hay River District Education Authority made the proposal recently to address its concerns that it doesn't get a fair shake from the South Slave Divisional Education Council.

Dent said he'd be happy to consider the idea, but the request must come from the region as a whole, not just Hay River.

"The make-up of the DEC can be changed to reflect regional wishes," he said.

The minister said there is nothing in the act to prevent proportional representation, although it has never happened before with any of the NWT's five divisional education councils.

Under Hay River's proposal, a "weighted vote" would give it about half the voting power on the divisional council. Currently, the five communities represented on the council have one vote each, regardless of size.

The standard in the NWT is that each community gets one vote on divisional education councils.

As the largest South Slave town, Hay River has long objected to having only one vote out of five on the council.

"If we have more authority on the board, we have a much better chance of being listened to and taken seriously," said DEA chair David MacDonald late last month.

Weighted voting would help deal with Hay River's concerns, MacDonald said. "Right now, we're being ignored."

On March 23, Dent rejected a Hay River petition seeking more autonomy from the regional school board.

Hay River has wanted out of the South Slave council for many years, citing numerous differences in such areas as allocation of funding among communities and spending priorities.