ASBA nixes municipal auditor general
President Heather Welwood spoke against a proposal to create the office of municipal auditor – as set out in Bill 202. Though the bill does not reference school boards, Welwood met Oct. 28 with the Standing Committee on Community Affairs to outline the many ways school boards are already accountable to their communities including: engaging external auditors; working with the department of education to establish and report on program outcomes; audit results and program outcomes are public information and the fact that school trustees are elected officials accountable to voters. Welwood warned that adding another level of audit would duplicate existing requirements and increase administrative costs. Her presentation is available here.
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ASBA's School Act proposal
The ASBA’s submission in response to the School Act review is available here (PDF–273K). The submission, grounded in association policy, was vetted during six consultation sessions which involved all of Alberta’s school boards.
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Nine boards vie for $3000 prize
These school boards are in the running for the 2009 Premier’s Award for School Board Excellence and Innovation. The award, sponsored by Xerox Canada, will be presented Sunday, November 22 at the ASBA’s Fall General Meeting. |
- Calgary Board of Education
- Calgary Roman Catholic Separate School District No. 1
- Chinook’s Edge School Division No. 73
- Grande Yellowhead Public School Division No. 77
- Greater St. Albert Catholic Regional Division No. 29
- Horizon School Division No. 67
- Northern Lights School Division
- Red Deer Public Schools
- St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Schools
This marks the 10th year this award will be presented. The submissions are summarized on the ASBA website.
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ASBA guide to public engagement online
The ASBA’s new Guide to Face-to-Face Public Engagement for School Boards is available here (PDF–753K). We hope this resource will be useful to school boards who are planning to consult with their local communities about the direction of pending cuts to public education. A video-conference workshop featuring public engagement consultant Godfrey Huybregts and Red Deer Public’s Bruce Buruma is being offered Nov. 16 and Nov.18. The registration form is here (PDF–83K).
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High Prairie School Division tops visits to Stop the cuts
Update Stop the cuts campaign
As of Nov. 2 – 3038 e-mails have been sent to government MLAs asking them to invest in public education. The e-mails are in response to the Stop the Cuts advertising campaign launched in October by the ASBA, Alberta Teachers’ Association and the Alberta School Councils' Association.
President Heather Welwood thanked school boards for posting links to www.stopthecuts.ca on their websites and encouraged all boards to follow suit. “This is our opportunity to ask Albertans to speak up for public education – before December 1 – because government MLAs are making decisions now about budget priorities.”
Website statistics indicate High Prairie School Division is the hot spot in for encouraging Stop the cuts action with 85 visits to the site from that connection. The ASBA website generated 57 visits, Battle River School Division generated 51; Peace River: 47; Northern Lights School Division: 30; Greater St. Albert Catholic: 22; Elk Island Public Schools: 19 and Wild Rose School Division generated 13. The Alberta Teachers’ Association’s Facebook page generated the most visits at 783 with the ATA website coming second generating 422 visits.
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Zone 4 elects new chair
Dianne Macaulay, a trustee with Red Deer Public, is the new chair of Zone 4. Read her biography here.
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In the news....
See the ASBA website for media stories about education. In this week's headlines:
Talks to continue with CUPE: Livingstone Range
Chair of Grande Prairie Public Board worried about future of school boards in light of School Act review
Ease class size guidelines for Grades 4 and up/return taxing power to boards to help with funding squeeze says CBE
Financial literacy part of Ontario ABC’s
Peace Wapiti School board calls for coterminous boundaries when School Act changes
Read more>
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