Cullen: Bill 64 won’t be used to close down rural schools

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/05/2021 (1987 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Education Minister Cliff Cullen reiterated on Thursday that his government will not use Bill 64, the Education Modernization Act, to shut down rural schools.

These comments came during an afternoon question-and-answer session with reporters, which was conducted entirely over the phone.

Cullen said at the outset that he wanted to use this session to clear up any misconceptions that members of the general public might have about his government’s approach toward education, including the impact Bill 64 might have on rural communities.

One recurring concern that parents and educators have brought up in relation to the bill is that the government will use it as an opportunity to close down smaller schools with little oversight, since this piece of legislation would dissolve all local school boards in favour of a single provincial authority.

Additionally, Bill 64 does not include a ban on school closures or a time cap on school bus trips, even though those measures have been codified into Manitoba law since 2008.

In mid-April, Waskada School teacher Katie Thom told the Sun that one of her biggest fears with regard to Bill 64 is that their modest K-12 institution will be shut down and combined with a nearby entity, especially if the decision is left in the hands of someone who doesn’t live in the community.

“We only have around 68 students,” she said on April 13. “So if a finance person in Winnipeg is looking at numbers when they start making all of these changes, they’re going to see a tiny school of 68 and think ‘hmmm … what are we going to do with that one?’”

However, on Thursday, Cullen went out of his way to assure concerned citizens like Thom that the province won’t pursue this course of action if Bill 64 passes, using his own personal schooling history to hammer this point home.

“I graduated in a class of 18 (people), my dad spent many years as a bus driver, so I know what it’s like to be the first on and the last off of a school bus,” he said.

Cullen provided the Winnipeg Free Press with similar comments in early April, stating that the notion that the government plans to shut down rural schools is being “created by school boards.”

Additionally, Cullen reminded reporters on Thursday that the Progressive Conservative government has pledged to build 20 new schools by 2030, and even recently indicated that this process could be sped up by five years.

However, Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew told the Sun that he simply doesn’t believe Cullen will keep his word on this issue, especially since it isn’t backed up by the language contained within Bill 64 itself.

“In Manitoba law, there is a protection against closing rural schools. The protection is that you have to consult extensively with the local community before you close a school,” he said on Thursday.

“If they were so serious about not closing schools, then why wouldn’t they keep that protection as part of this new education law they’re proposing?”

Kinew also said that this school closure issue points to a broader concern about Bill 64, where rural educators and parents think their voices will be snuffed out without any local representation.

Even though Bill 64 would install school community councils at every institution, Kinew believes that these volunteer-led organizations are a poor substitute for elected school boards, and will end up wielding very little power compared to a centralized education authority.

“How is your voice going to be heard better when you’re part of one massive province-wide bureaucracy?” Kinew asked. “It just doesn’t make common sense.”

The legislature is expected to vote on Bill 64 this coming fall.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson