The Public School Boards' Association of Alberta

Provisional Position Paper — Public and Separate Schools

Preamble | Position
Archive: 2003

Preamble

Public school education is unique, valuable and attractive. The defining and unique characteristic of public school education is that it is inclusive, from the classroom, to the boardroom, to the voting booth. It is inclusive by design and as a matter of conviction.

(Practically speaking, the PSBAA means by "inclusive" that, at the local jurisdiction level, the system is committed to:

  • Accept every child without regard for race, religion, colour, economic circumstances, or other prejudicial considerations, and without regard for lack of space or other resources;
  • Hire, promote, and discharge staff without regard for race, religion, colour, economic circumstances, or other prejudicial considerations; and
  • Accept every person who lives in the community as a resident, ratepayer, elector, and, if successful in being elected, as a trustee of the jurisdiction, without regard for race, religion, colour, economic circumstances, or other prejudicial considerations.

To put it another way, no public school board would ever claim the right to refuse a child/student on any basis.)

Inclusiveness expresses itself in two equally important and inseparable roles:

  1. To ensure the best possible education for every student and provide opportunities for both teachers and students to make the most of the learning experience; and,
  2. To ensure that the education of students is provided in a context which deliberately and consistently models the best qualities of leadership and of civil democracy. To put it another way, it is the work of the public school system to create and sustain "the public".

The Public School Boards' Association of Alberta exists to advocate the benefits of inclusiveness, and to support these two roles. Every single student benefits from our commitment, and so does the whole community.

Notwithstanding our view that these two roles are profoundly important, in Alberta parents can choose a number of education options that are not public education although they are publicly funded and regulated. Alberta's separate school system is one alternative to the public school system. The separate school system is unique in itself: it is guaranteed by the Constitution and the guarantee extends to ensuring that separate schools have some rights to discriminate that are forbidden for public schools.

For historic reasons, one of only two religious groups in Alberta, either Protestants or Roman Catholics, may choose to establish a constitutionally protected system of education which is independent of the public school system and exclusively for the members of the group. The key to this right is that the group entitled to establish a separate school system must be the smaller of these two groups in the community.

Position

Always and everywhere, the PSBAA will be an advocate, to all Albertans, of the all-inclusive public school system. Our advocacy will extend to situations in which the establishment of a separate school district is proposed. The process by which separate school jurisdictions are established is democratic and it occurs in the public school community: the public school community has a responsibility to participate in the process to the extent that the Constitution allows.

Whether or not a separate school jurisdiction exists in a community, the Association will support local developments likely to meet the needs of everyone in a community, within an all-inclusive school system.

The right (of the dissentient religious minority) to choose to establish a separate school system is assured by the Constitution. The constitutional assurance is the fulfillment of a political agreement: it does not guarantee a fundamental freedom. The Province is under no obligation, and ought not, to extend the terms of this constitutional agreement to any other dissentient religious minority. In matters related to education, we believe that rights can and should be exercised within existing jurisdictions, not by extending, to other groups, the right to establish more kinds of separate jurisdictions.

It is open to the people of Alberta at any time to consider amendments to the Constitution. The Constitution itself provides some requirements that must be met in order to make amendments. Experience and growth in understanding suggest that the amending process should evolve. The PSBAA favours an evolutionary development that goes beyond the conventional understanding of the amending procedure. We believe that the process should show a greater generosity of spirit toward the dissentient religious minority. It is the position of the Public School Boards' Association of Alberta that no amendment affecting the rights of the dissentient religious minority should be enacted unless the principle of the amendment is approved by a double majority of the people of Alberta, a majority of the dissentient religious minority and a majority of Albertans other than those who are of the dissentient religious minority.

In simple terms, we will not be part of a political process by which the majority would use its numbers to impose its will on the minority. Our Vision will be achieved when the minority freely chooses to rejoin the majority, in the public school system. The result will be that one whole community will be working to ensure that public school is the best it can be for every child and for the community as a whole.

In the meantime, the Association understands and operates completely within the spirit of the Constitution.

This position paper was approved in principle by the members of the Association at our Fall General Meeting, 1998. The position is to be reconsidered in light of discussions with the Alberta Catholic School Trustees' Association.

2003

PSBAA and the Learning Commission

The Province's Learning Commission reported October 7, 2003 after 15 months of consultation. View PSBAA's submission What No One Else Says  [218 KB]

View Commission's Report, news releases and commentary

Keeping It Close to Home  [192 KB]
A Preliminary Analysis of The Report of Alberta’s Commission on Learning
November 2003

PSBAA Submission to the Standing Policy Committee on Learning and Employment  [14 KB] February 3, 2003 

LEADING LOCAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

Leading Local Learning Committees is PSBAA's guide to its principles, policy direction and vision.