Dr. Swann shares his views on education issues with Alberta’s public school board trustees
Remarks from guest speaker Dr. David Swann, Leader of the Official Opposition and Alberta Liberal Caucus
Meeting of Public School Boards Council
Leduc, Alberta
February 4, 2010
Good evening, I’m very pleased to join you and share some of the liberal opposition vision and values around public education in Alberta. I will be brief as I am most interested in hearing from school board trustees on your ideas and concerns.
It should come as no surprise to you that I’m a great believer in the importance and power of public education – along with public health. As a liberal, supporting public education is one of my core values; I got into politics in part because I wanted to help ensure that public schools thrive.
Without the excellent teachers and resources made available to me thanks to Alberta’s public education system, I could never have become a medical doctor, nor leader of the official opposition. Nor would Alberta be the success story it is without public education.
My grade 9 shop teacher will never know the impact he had one day in grade 9 when he quietly turned to me and said “I think you should consider being the class representative”… I had no idea he and others saw me as a leader.
As a father and grandfather, I want our public education system to continually improve; I want all Albertans to have even better educational opportunities than I enjoyed.
I want our public schools to thrive because they play such a huge role in social development.
Education breaks down religious, ethnic and ideological barriers. They are a critical ingredient of a fair society in enabling people from disadvantaged situations to be successful – I call it ‘leveling the playing field’ of opportunity.
Public schools welcome all children and young people, without regard to their physical or intellectual gifts, their skin colour, or the beliefs or economic situation of their parents. Public schools are for everyone, and as a result young Albertans learn as much about each other as they do about math and science, history and language arts. Education is one of the key determinants of health!
At the heart of every community in this great province, you’ll find a public school – a source of enlightenment, of knowledge, of creativity, compassion and understanding.
For these reasons, I believe that education is an investment, not an expense or liability. In fact, it’s the single most important investment the public can possibly make, for modern society simply cannot function without creative, educated, inquisitive, entrepreneurial and engaged citizens who share a set of common values.
We all have a stake in making sure that our schools are as excellent as we can possibly make them.
Challenges – I’ll focus briefly on two:
1. The importance of local boards and the ambiguity of board power (natural person powers)
In Alberta we’re very lucky to have a very good public education system. Public school trustees understand the needs of their community, as well as its strengths and challenges. Working long hours as virtual volunteers, you make crucial decisions that will affect the lives of hundreds or thousands of children. It’s a huge responsibility.
I believe that local boards – elected – are extremely important for the quality and accessibility of our education system and that boards are accountable to the electors; vital in our democratically challenged province.
Unfortunately this government has created serious ambiguity and progressive erosion of board powers.
Alberta has the lowest high school completion rate of any province. This is a serious problem, with far-reaching consequences. We also have the lowest postsecondary participation rate of any province. Again, this doesn’t bode well for our future. Clearly we need some fresh thinking about 21st century public education but one disturbing example arises which raises serious questions about this government’s capacity to find solutions: Northlands school division where the school board has recently been dissolved by ministerial fiat. Reasons were given but both the power of the minister and the process rankle with many Albertans.
First question – to whom are the board accountable?
As elected members they are accountable to the people as well as the minister of the day. While empowered to make such draconian decisions, ministerial actions such as this threatens fundamental democratic and political values, especially in such a complex region with isolated communities with unique social, geographic and economic challenges. It is my understanding that this government also rejected a proposal to improve teacher retention- a key determinant of school success – through a new teacher training program in 2006!
Secondly, the process of making such a drastic decision should surely be based on a careful, comprehensive analysis of factors contributing to the unsatisfactory outcome and a thoughtful exploration of solutions with the key authorities. Was this followed? This is not clear. But it is my understanding the decision to disband was made and then an enquiry into the situation was called.
2. Sustainable funding
Adequate funding continues to plague the public and post-secondary systems. People are losing opportunities in some cases and our society is weaker in productivity and in citizenship as a result. This concerns me deeply, especially the uncertain recessionary times.
This is why sustainable funding is so important. Public schools require stable, dependable and sufficient funding to meet the needs of every student. It’s a societal obligation, a sacred duty that I believe we all share. Drastic cuts to public education, such as those we endured during the 1990s, are simply not acceptable in my Alberta; we should not sacrifice long-term gains for short-term bottom lines. This is the epitome of poor investment and management decisions. My medical work has focused on prevention for 20 years – education is the most effective preventive measure I know!
My greatest hope is that the premier and his ministers will see that public education is our most important investment, and that the upcoming budget will reflect that truth – but I’m not optimistic. $80 million in cuts in 2009 was already too much. We in the official opposition will be fighting hard the rumoured $340 million in additional cuts. I’d much rather scale back public support of private schools, which by their nature should be funded by those Albertans who choose them.
No one likes deficits, but there are far, far better ways to curb public spending than to slash public education – we’ve suggested a number of common sense decisions that would save billions in the coming years.
Infrastructure is a related issue. We all know that many of our aging public schools need repair, expansion or replacement. The deferred maintenance backlog is significant – in some places, it’s critical. Students and teachers shouldn’t be worried about health and safety in their buildings.
I believe in long-term capital planning. A responsible government would make plans for the future, with capital plans that anticipate and set aside funding for new school construction and ongoing maintenance. And school boards should play a central role in helping the provincial government create those plans, tailored for community needs.
That’s why I was so concerned when the minister of education gave stakeholders like you only a month or so to provide feedback on the government’s planned overhaul of the school act. The last review of the act, back in 1994, took away the power of school boards to set education property taxes. My concern now is that they’ll use this new revision of the act to eliminate elected school boards altogether, much as they did with elected health boards. This would not be acceptable in my government.
I happen to agree with the government when they say that the school act needs revision. But I believe that any such revision must include greater support for inclusiveness, for fiscal sustainability for school boards, for local control and community input. When the spring sitting of the legislature begins, my MLAs will be urging the minister of education and the premier to pay closer attention to public school trustees. You know better than anyone what our public schools need; I believe the government would be wise to listen to your advice.
Public education is the very foundation of Alberta’s success. It is the bedrock upon which we rest our hopes and dreams for the future – a better future for our children and grandchildren. Public education will enable us to meet the great challenges of the 21st century: climate change, economic diversification, threats to public health, homelessness, poverty and all the other ills that plague us today.
Perhaps most importantly of all, public schools bring citizens together, forming bonds of friendship and community that help make us a more diverse and accepting society, and hopefully a wiser one, too.
As a father and grandfather I also want to thank all public school trustees for your dedication, courage, and goodwill to serve as a trustee, and I’m grateful for all you’ve accomplished. You know well this job is all about Alberta’s children and their future.
For over 100 years that’s also what the Alberta liberals are all about.
Thank you.
