Montreal, May 10, 2023 â The Quebec English School Boards Associationâs (QESBA) Executive Committee met today to discuss the implications of Bill 23, the latest school governance reform, on the constitutional rights of our community to control and manage our education system.
The government introduced Bill 23 last week in QuĂ©bec City, which empowers the Government of QuĂ©bec to appoint the directors general of school boards, and authorizes the Minister of Education to annul decisions of school boards ânot consistent with targets, objectives, policy directions and directives the Minister has establishedâ.
âCertain provisions of Bill 23 are manifestly unconstitutional. We will spend the next weeks trying to convince MNAs to modify Bill 23 in order to fully respect our constitutional rights. However, if the bill remains in its present form the QESBA will have no other option than to quickly initiate a legal challenge of the legislation,â declared QESBA President Dan Lamoureux.
QESBA is the voice of English public education in QuĂ©bec and represents 100,000 students in over 300 elementary, high schools, and adult and vocational centres across QueÌbec.