Alberta School Boards Association members pass positions during Fall General Meeting that will guide provincial advocacy

November 20, 2023, Edmonton, AB — Alberta School Boards Association’s (ASBA) locally-elected public, catholic and francophone member school boards came together for the business day of ASBA’s Fall General Meeting. During the event, members conducted elections for ASBA’s President and Vice-president and passed position statements.

Election of President and Vice-president

Members re-elected Marilyn Dennis as President and Shali Baziuk as Vice-president to serve their second terms.

Member-passed position statements

The following position statements were passed by member school boards and will guide ASBA’s provincial advocacy:

Recognition of Valid Teaching Certificates

BE IT RESOLVED THAT, The assembly adopt the position that the Alberta School Boards Association support and advocate to the Minister of Education that individual Alberta school authorities be given the latitude to temporarily recognize the scope of practice as authorized by a valid teaching certificate from either an Alberta or other Canadian jurisdiction until such a time that an Interim Professional Certificate can be issued.

Removal of the Reserve Cap

BE IT RESOLVED THAT, the Alberta School Boards Association advocate for the Government of Alberta to remove the requirement of the maximum limit for operating reserves for school boards, thereby respecting school boards’ local decision-making autonomy.

Review of Diploma Exams

WHEREAS the priority of Alberta’s education system is the success of every student;

WHEREAS Alberta school boards are responsible for providing assurance to their local stakeholders that students are successful; and

WHEREAS Alberta’s education system supports accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the assembly adopt the position that the Ministry of Education review the practice of administering provincial high school diploma examinations to ensure the efficacy of this tool as an indicator of both system and student success.

Remove Barrier to Dual Credit and Off-Campus Education

BE IT RESOLVED THAT, The Alberta School Boards Association advocate for the Government of Alberta to remove barriers to Dual Credit and Off-Campus Education as recommended by the Career Education Task Force, including:

• Maintain start-up and enhancement grants for Dual Credit and increase flexibility of grants to support operational costs related to Dual Credit projects and programming.
• Provide top up funding that includes sufficient, sustainable and equitable funding structure for Dual Credit and Off-campus credits awarded at all times of the year.
• Reduce red tape and barriers by
  • Moving to provincial MOUs
  • Simplifying PSI code creation and transferability.
  • Sharing off-campus site inspections and reviewing supervision requirements
  • Providing WCB coverage to all off-campus students

EAL Student Funding

BE IT RESOLVED THAT, the Minister of Education ensures funding is available for EAL students throughout their pre-kindergarten and K-12 school years as needed to achieve language proficiency, up to seven years.

Collaboration around School Site Allocations

BE IT RESOLVED THAT, Government of Alberta collaborate with school boards to resolve challenges around the lack of properly sized and available reserve land for school site allocations through the Municipal Government Act.

Alberta School Boards Association (ASBA) serves Alberta’s 61 locally-elected public, catholic and francophone school boards. For more information visit asba.ab.ca.

Media inquiries:
Katy Campbell
Director of Communications, ASBA
780.451.7137 | kcampbell@asba.ab.ca