Amalgamation talk alarms WSD trustees

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This article was published 22/06/2017 (3206 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg School Division trustees are imploring Education Minister Ian Wishart — leave us alone.

The province’s largest division is seeking a meeting with Wishart to tell him it doesn’t want to amalgamate with any other school division.

Board minutes show trustees were so alarmed by a Free Press story in which Wishart talked about amalgamation as part of an upcoming review of all aspects of the public-education system, they immediately compiled a long list of programs and services they contend justify the division staying intact.

They cited the division’s diverse demographics, nursery facilities, nutrition programs, special-needs education and low administrative costs.

The WSD trustees specifically told Wishart they’re concerned about any plans for voluntary amalgamation — though it’s not clear that a review would limit itself to voluntary mergers.

“What values are we taking to the table? You don’t want to be put out into the suburbs that don’t have that same understanding,” board chairwoman Sherri Rollins said in an interview.

Wishart could not be reached Wednesday.

Rollins said the division has established a wide range of community connections that could be lost or jeopardized if it became part of a larger division.

“What could get lost are the special relationships,” she said.

Rollins acknowledged that WSD has a significant commercial assessment base that would have to be shared should any amalgamation occur.

With one-sixth of the province’s public school students, WSD has almost one-third of Manitoba’s entire commercial assessment base.

Winnipeg has three times as many students as contiguous Seven Oaks S.D., which also has a widely diverse student population, but WSD has about 13 times Seven Oaks’s commercial assessment base.

The presence or lack of businesses paying school tax directly affects how much of a tax load homeowners carry.

But Rollins said that there are not enough similarities between the two neighbouring divisions to justify amalgamating even with Seven Oaks.

Winnipeg remains the only large Canadian city with multiple school divisions for secular public education — most have one, a few also have a Catholic public board.

WSD has asked Wishart to build a new high school in its northwest corner practically on the border with Seven Oaks, an area of high residential growth.

Sisler High School in WSD is Manitoba’s largest, while Maples High and Garden City Collegiate in Seven Oaks are third and fourth respectively.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca