Help Save Our Locally Controlled, Democratically Elected School Boards
En février 2020, le gouvernement de la CAQ a fait adopter à toute vapeur le projet de loi 40, qui a aboli les commissions scolaires pour les remplacer par des « centres de services scolaires » dotés de beaucoup moins d’autorité et de pouvoirs de décision réduits. Convaincue de l’inconstitutionnalité de cette réforme, et du fait qu’elle serait au détriment du système scolaire anglophone, l’ACSAQ a contesté le projet de loi 40 devant les tribunaux et obtenu une injonction qui suspendait son application. La Cour supérieure du Québec a désormais rendu une décision, largement favorable pour les commissions scolaires anglophones.
Independent, autonomous English school boards are critical to the vitality of the English-speaking community of Québec
- The English school system has a student success rate 5% better than the Québec average
- School boards appoint principals, hire teachers and determine programs in their schools
- School boards are sensitive to keeping small schools open in more isolated English-speaking communities across the province
- Many English school boards used their autonomy to install air purifiers in classrooms without mechanical ventilation during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite determined opposition from the government of Québec
- Believing diversity is an asset, not a threat, school boards are involved in the legal challenge to Bill 21, Québec’s secularism law, which prevents them from hiring teachers who wear religious symbols
These elements are examples of the risks of the government of Québec’s attempts to centralize decision making in Québec City in Bill 40 and the recent Bill 23.
The QESBA and its member school boards have largely borne the cost of the legal challenge to this power grab. With a complete appeal of Bill 40 by the government underway, we need your support to ensure that the constitutional rights of English-speaking Quebecers are respected and that school boards continue to exist.
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR ONGOING COURT CASE WITH A TAX DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION.