Online teachers registry in works: province

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This article was published 05/01/2024 (656 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba is moving ahead with a virtual registry of teachers that will allow members of the public to scroll through resumés and disciplinary records.

Education Minister Nello Altomare has confirmed the province wants to implement Bill 35, the Education Administration Act (Teacher Certification and Professional Conduct), by January 2025.

“Keeping kids safe in school is always our top priority, and this bill reassures parents and communities that educators are qualified and free of any charges that could put children into jeopardy in the classroom,” Altomare said in a statement Friday.

Bill 35 sets out to establish an online database of educators and task an independent commissioner with reviewing complaints about registrants.

The government-appointed commissioner will have discretion to close matters or investigate them, be it through a public hearing in front of a panel of teachers, school board representatives and members of the public, or otherwise.

The legislation was sponsored by Tory MLA Wayne Ewasko, who was the education minister at the time and is now the party’s education critic. The bill received royal assent on May 30.

It gives the province authority to make “competence standards” for teachers that they must meet to receive and maintain a professional certificate.

Regulations are anticipated to take effect in the fall as the 2024-25 school year gets underway.

The related registry and commissioner who oversees it will be in place within 12 months, Altomare said.

The Manitoba Teachers’ Society repeatedly condemned the bill, arguing it would make teachers vulnerable to “frivolous and malicious complaints,” when it was introduced in the legislature in the spring.