Province abandons pieces of unpopular education plan

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This article was published 20/04/2022 (1537 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

No changes to school boards are on the table in the province’s revamped plan to improve Manitoba’s K-12 education system.

The Education Action Plan, announced Wednesday afternoon by Education Minister Wayne Ewasko in Winnipeg, is the province’s latest education reform strategy based on the dozens of recommendations from the Manitoba Commission on Kindergarten to Grade 12 Education.

There are four pillars of the plan, including high-quality learning, student engagement and well-being, excellence in teaching and leadership and responsive systems.

The new plan includes a number of changes to education in Manitoba, including developing a new framework for learning to guide curriculum and assessment, strengthening French curriculum, establishing a student advisory council to advise the minister of education, and launching a funding model review for the overall system.

“With the plan today … it’s student-centric,” Ewasko said in an interview with the Sun.

The list of 75 recommendations from the commission was released in March 2021, after it was tasked with making recommendations to improve student outcomes and boost public confidence in the education system. In response, the provincial government introduced Bill 64, which included plans to consolidate all English school boards and instead create a central education authority.

The move was unpopular, however, and the bill was withdrawn in September 2021 after receiving much backlash from the public.

Ewasko acknowledged this in a letter at the beginning of the plan, where he thanked the “thousands of Manitobans” who gave feedback as part of the process.

“They basically told us they want to keep the present governance model and I think really we showed that we’re listening and we’re acting on what Manitobans want.”

The trustee model will remain as it is now, but Ewasko left the door open to school division amalgamations.

“If there’s school divisions out there that feel that they’ve got willing partners and they willingly want to amalgamate, we’ll work with them so that we make sure we get it right,” he said. No school divisions have said they want to amalgamate.

The province isn’t moving forward with two other recommendations: removing principals and vice-principals from the teacher bargaining unit and reorganizing administrative staff to create business manager positions in schools.

“This is a living, breathing document. We’re going to continue working with our education partners every step of the way and keeping in mind students are at the centre of this plan, that’s our overarching goal.”

Brandon School Division Supt. Mathew Gustafson said the four pillars outlined in the plan are all important in the field and goals the division shares with the provincial government.

The fact the province is not moving forward with consolidating school divisions also gives the BSD stability to plan and focus on the other initiatives outlined in the document, he said.

The Education Action Plan includes efforts to create a “workforce planning framework” on the recruitment and retention of school staff in rural and northern communities. The framework will also focus on increasing French, Indigenous and Indigenous language teachers.

While the BSD does not have the same issues with teacher retention as other divisions, Gustafson said the plan signals it will be a priority for the provincial government

“Anything we can do to create a stronger workforce we support,” he said.

“As we dive into the action under each of those pillars we’ll get a little more clarity as that goes on,” he said, adding the focus on students is “reassuring.”

The Education Action Plan also includes a focus on mental health and well-being, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The department is planning to develop a remote learning strategy to boost access to programming across the province.

Despite the changes announced in the plan, NDP leader Wab Kinew said funding remains the biggest issue for school divisions. He pointed to a $1.2-million budget shortfall in Brandon’s school division’s budget, which resulted in a decrease of 10.69 full-time equivalent teaching positions, including speech-language pathologists (one FTE), psychologists (one FTE), high school lunch supervision (one FTE) and the reading recovery program (0.75 FTE).

“I don’t think any part of the announcement today would make a parent or a family feel better,” he said.

One of the goals of the newly announced program is to help improve student outcomes, and Kinew said the way to do that is to improve things like nutritional programs and more mental health supports.

“If we have a funding reality under the PCs where the Brandon School Division can’t even afford to keep the same number of teachers working in the classroom as were there last year, what hope do we have that those additional supports are actually going to come and make a difference for kids?”

» dmay@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @DrewMay_