Changing the status of the Greater St. Albert Catholic School Division from a public school board to a separate school board is an option Catholic school trustees have considered and might be open to, according to superintendent David Keohane.
“The concept is potentially one that would be acceptable to the board,” Keohane said last week.
Some see the issue as a potential solution to providing a non-faith-based education option in Morinville where the Catholic school board runs all four schools.
A group of parents led by Donna Hunter recently asked the board to provide a secular education option, arguing their children are entitled to public, non-faith-based education in the community.
According to proposed amendments to the School Act, Alberta Education is considering granting the minister the authority to change the designation of a public school jurisdiction to a separate school jurisdiction, and vice versa.
“The overriding caveat and, it is a fairly strong one, is we would want to be able to assess the impact of this on the local communities affected. We would like to have an opportunity to discuss this matter with our local communities if it was contemplated,” Keohane said.
“We’re not the only player in the issue.”
According to Protestant school board chair Joan Trettler, the board is not in favour of becoming a public school board.
“We would prefer to remain a separate school board,” she said.
According to her, a Supreme Court decision in the late 1990s determined that separate school boards have more rights than public school boards, including the right to exist, the right to elect trustees and the right to tax.
“That is the foundation of our desire to remain separate because we believe that we have those rights and that they are not necessarily guaranteed for public boards,” Trettler said.
Former education minister David King said reversing the status of the Protestant and Catholic school boards in St. Albert would create a “political firestorm.”
“The (Catholic school board) is proposing to extinguish the constitutional right for Protestants in the province and I don’t think that would go over well,” he said last week.
Earlier this year, King launched a petition calling on the Alberta government to make separate school boards a referendum issue in the next provincial election.
He believes separate school boards should be abolished and argues that without them, the system would be more inclusive of all faiths.
“Why in Edmonton is there a Roman Catholic separate school district but not a Seventh-Day Adventist separate school system or a Jewish school system?” King asked earlier this year.
In Alberta, the right of the religious minority, either Protestant or Roman Catholic, to establish a separate school district is currently enshrined in legislation.
According to the Catholic school board, one-third of students in Morinville and half the students in Legal identify as Catholic and participate in religious programs.
According to 2001 data available from Statistics Canada, 46 per cent of residents in Morinville identify as Catholic.
“There is also no basis for the majority asking to be declared the minority so I know that the Alberta Catholic School Trustees’ Association (ACSTA) and Greater St. Albert are proposing this to the minister but I just think it would create a political firestorm if that went forward so I doubt that it would happen,” said King.
He said the St. Albert Catholic school board has a responsibility to provide a public non-faith-based education option for parents and students.
“Not only do I think it’s reasonable, I think the board is legally required to provide it,” he said.
“There is no such thing as a public Catholic board. The word “Catholic” remains in the name of the district because of conditions 125 years ago but not withstanding the word “Catholic,” it is a public school jurisdiction,” he said.
“The charter of rights applies to that public jurisdiction, it cannot promote or prefer one religion over another. I’m pretty confident that the courts would support that condition because it is a public school jurisdiction.”
But Dr. Frank Peters, a professor at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Education, said he doesn’t think a Catholic school board should provide a secular education.
“It would be in my view, ridiculous to expect a Catholic School district to provide a secular education,” he said earlier this month.
Peters said the Catholic board is responsible for making sure the educational needs of children within its district — whether it be a religious or non-religious education — are met.
“What they have to do is make sure Ms. Hunter’s needs are met but clearly they’re not going to be able to meet them themselves.”
