School Boards, District Consolidation, and Educational Governance in British Columbia, 1872-1995

Abstract

It was not surprising to see that Education Minister Art Charbonneau's November 17, 1995, plan to "reduce significantly the number of school boards" in British Columbia was greeted with a certain amount of skepticism both within and outside the educational community.1 Criticisms of the NDP Government's proposal to restructure educational governance in the Province by reducing the number of school boards from 75 to 37 were immediate and largely predictable in nature. Reactions ranged from arguments that district consolidation invariably diminishes community representation to accusations that the Minister's plan is flawed because it panders to the public's growing distaste for bureaucracy.2 A Times Colonist editorial, published the morning after the Minister's news release, depicted the government's reorganization scheme as "a crude plan [which] does a massive disservice to education in British Columbia."3 Further to this, the editor charged that Charbonneau's initiative failed to consider the "educational needs," of children, and alleged "that parents will lose their voice in how their children are educated."4 Judging by the press coverage that followed the government's announcement, few critics were prepared to accept Charbonneau's assertion that "restructuring will assist . . . in cutting costs while preserving the quality of our public education system."5

Unfortunately, these reactions to the government's consolidation plan seem limited in their grasp of the educational past. They assume that there is something about a local governance structure comprised of 75 school districts to which the Province is historically bound, something that is durable, constant, and that should be beyond question. Criticisms of the government's proposal also seem to assume that the concept of local representation in educational governance is meaningful to the community at large and that school boards continue to play a vital role in public education. Some responses to the government's plan likewise associate the creation of larger governance units with a decline in educational quality, while others portray the proposed change as an issue that can somehow be examined by itself, apart from other important educational issues.

This paper will examine these assumptions as it reviews the historical record pertaining to school governance in British Columbia. It will attempt to establish a context in which to view the government's current consolidation proposal, as well as outline some of the major factors that have conditioned the Province's governance and administrative traditions. Accordingly, it will describe the legal foundations of public schooling, the traditions of central and local control that characterize the educational past, the status and responsibilities historically assigned to trustees, and the effects of early and recent consolidation efforts in British Columbia and elsewhere.