Given recent events, you might be forgiven if you're having trouble figuring out who is in charge of the public school system.
There are still three dozen school divisions operating in the province, and the trustees that sit on those boards still have, on paper, control over the operation of the schools, the negotiation of staff contracts and the setting of mill rates for education property taxes.
A closer examination, however, reveals that the province has been slowly but surely extending its command and control over public education and diminishing the role of school boards.
The province has introduced a funding system that makes it virtually impossible for school divisions to raise property taxes. They still have the power to do so, but if the mill rate goes up, the division forfeits an incentive grant. This carrot-and-stick approach gives the province de facto control over education property taxes.
The province has also told school divisions they cannot close underused schools without approval from government. Decisions on closing schools with declining enrolment used to be one of the extreme measures a school division could use to control costs.
Premier Gary Doer and his NDP government have the comfort of knowing that legally and politically, they are on the right side of both issues. As the principal funder of public education, the province has all the legislative authority to usurp the trustees. Politically, keeping property taxes down and keeping schools open are both winners for the government.
And yet, one has to wonder where this is going.
According to the premier, school boards are here to stay. At the same time, it has become quite clear this government has more control over public education than any previous government and got to this position at the expense of trustees.
Doer argued his government has an "activist approach" to public education, and the moral and legal authority to make sure that the millions of dollars its puts into the school system is spent wisely. This is not a new position.
Back in 2004, Doer suggested that when the province gets to a point where it is funding 80 per cent of the operating budgets of public schools, it would be time for government to take over collective bargaining with teachers. "School divisions are asking us to go to 80 per cent funding of education costs, and 80 per cent of their costs are salaries," Doer told the Free Press. "So you can't have a complete disconnect between increased funding and salary costs."
By Doer's own numbers, the province is now funding about 75 per cent of operating costs of the school divisions. It funds 100 per cent of capital costs and pays the lion's share of contributions to the teacher's pension liability. At first blush it appears we have reached the conditions necessary for Doer to take over provincewide bargaining with teachers. However, Doer won't be so easily pinned down on the issue.
The premier said the province will be watching closely to ensure school divisions negotiate contracts that are both affordable to taxpayers and generous enough to recruit and retain teachers. If school divisions cannot strike that balance, they could find the province assuming a more prominent role. But get rid of school divisions altogether? That's not going to happen.
Doer conceded that while the province is more in control now, school boards are important institutions embraced by their communities, especially outside of Winnipeg, as symbols of democracy and local governance. Eliminating school divisions would open up a political holy war and further convince rural voters that the province is too focused on Winnipeg, he said.
The fact is that while Doer conceded this political reality, he did not sound like he genuinely shared that view.
That might lead one to believe this is a case of "why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?" Doer is getting his command and control without having to go through the messy political process of eliminating school boards.
It may not be cost-effective to maintain a school board system that has lost its real command and control over schools. But based on the premier's comments, school divisions have nothing to fear.
For now.
dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
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