Moose Jaw public school ratepayers should be aware of two important dates: Feb. 2 and March 9. The first is the nomination deadline for potential candidates in a school board byelection and the second is the actual voting day to select a trustee to fill a board vacancy.
The vacancy, left by the resignation of Todd Johnson, will be filled to complete the term of office to expire in the fall of 2024.
Byelections are notoriously under-subscribed — only 120 persons voted when the last byelection was held — suggesting there isn’t all that much interest in school board matters unless there is a dispute about attendance catchments or concern over certain portions of instruction materials.
Regardless of that seeming disinterest, the democratic process of allowing candidates to come forward and voters to make a choice should never be undermined or taken for granted.
Any suggestion that a byelection might be unnecessary with 20 months left in a term is to imply that perhaps the work of the school board is not as important as say, the work of a city or rural council, where there is no hesitation in carrying out byelections when necessary.
While it seems true that school boards operate less in the public eye than do municipal governments, there should never be any doubt that trustees are in place to ensure in their own way that children in both rural and urban schools get the best education possible, with creative thinking, using the funds made available through education taxes. Trustees play an important role in being the watchdogs for how tax funds are spent, balancing the needs with the wants of the schools in the division.
It should be noted that Prairie South Division trustees oversaw an operating budget of in the neighbourhood of $53 million in 2022, compared with $49.7 million by Moose Jaw city Council.
Governance of school operations, with amalgamation of school districts into large conglomerates, has changed the role of the trustees into policy-making bodies. The more hands-on approach of years ago has been eliminated.
But there’s still a vital job to be undertaken by the men and women elected to be the voice for tax-paying citizens. Potential candidates are encouraged to think seriously about getting involved. And voters should feel obligated to cast their ballots for the candidate they think will bring thoughtful and informed ideas to the school board table.
The March 9 byelection will be local democracy at work.
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
