Jan stated:
If my Public school board amalgamated with our neighbouring Catholic
school board, we could reduce capacity of 5,500 student surplus spaces
that we share between us. Not only would we be able to get rid of
partially filled schools, but also we would be able to eliminate the
redundant administration and duplicated services that these two boards
prop up. Doing this, we would free up over 3.6 million dollars annually
and another million dollars if we calculated according to our smaller
Catholic board’s per pupil funding allocation.
If these are the millions saved in amalgamating these two small boards,
imagine the millions saved across the province by ending this overlap?
Enough is enough. Instead of dividing, we should be measuring and
aligning our legacy. We should be calculating the potential savings
across the province.Imagine what we could do together in education, for all kids, from all
faith and non-faith communities alike, with a single public school
system for each official language only. We could direct our savings
into effective and sustainable student programs, services, and school
classrooms.Therefore, re-investments in student programming becomes the priority over investment in organizational structures.
A student-centered funding strategy will enable us to provide quality
educational programs and better-specialized supports with more overall
choice for all students, as well as better overall supervision to
increase safety and to optimize education outcomes. Smaller class sizes
for all could become the norm. A properly funded transportation system
would treat all student riders equally and provide better bussing
service. We could clear the air by upgrading and retrofitting our
remaining school buildings, do much needed capital repairs and complete
long overdue maintenance orders to make our schools healthy and
environmentally friendly. By properly funding music, art, drama, sports
programs, and popular extracurricular activities, we could finally
dispense with student fees and fundraising for these essentials.
I believe that her information was short shifted and tokenized by following responders, for a variety of reasons. Nor is it a red herring to the argument of not funding Catholic schools. It is an additional factor to that of stopping the funding for separate schools, whilst both schools have empty seating and thus are a drain on the entire system.