7/1/2012
He threatened to do it, and he has.
Education Minister George Abbott has fired members of the Cowichan Valley School board for failing to submit a balanced budget on time.
Under the School Act, local boards are not allowed to run deficits.
Surrey School District superintendent Mike McKay has been appointed as the official trustee for the district.
Eden Haythornthwaite, the board's ousted chair, says despite letters to the ministry, the board was never able to meet with Abbott.
"We told our community that we would fight for our schools and that that might include and probably would include putting forward a budget that was more realistic and went beyond the normal allocation that we received from the province."
She says trustees are now considering legal action.
Abbott says he's confident any legal grounds trustees are considering for a court challenge will only back up their termination.
"They have, I think, undertaken a bit of a political stand here, and they're welcome to do that. But that political stand is clearly at odds with the School Act and that brings us to their dismissal today."
Abbott also refutes claims the ministry ignored them.
"It is not the case. They sent letters asking for the opportunity to meet with the ministry of education, and we welcomed them with that opportunity to meet officials from the ministry of education."
Abbott says only four boards have been fired B.C. in the past 40 years. But this marks the second such occurrence in Cowichan.
|