Portage la Prairie School Division personnel have been lobbying municipal government to back the board of trustees' concerns surrounding the Education Modernization Act.

Delegates from the board and division were present at both the City of Portage and RM of Portage's latest meetings and outlined their concerns when it comes to the contentious piece of legislation.

PLPSD board of trustees chairperson Rod Brownlee - a former teacher, vice-principal, principal, and trustee with a career in education nearing 50 years - was asked if there are portions of the bill the board supports. He says it's difficult to glean any positives.

"When we look at the legislation, there is not much in there that is favourable," Brownlee told Portage's city council. He notes the Province's hope to better engage parents is a hurdle that the Portage Division, and every school division across Manitoba, has yet to clear. "(Successfully engaging parents) hasn't worked over the last number years. And we have tried. And every school division has tried. When we look at the taxation part - we have no problem with looking at a different way of financing education. If we had to go a system like health, which is general revenue, that wouldn't be a problem, as long as the local area is given some say in that. What I see coming out of Bill 64 is that that is not going to happen."

Portage la Prairie city councillor Preston Meier was quick to throw his support behind the school division and its effort to strike down the bill. Meier spent a dozen years serving on the board of trustees previous to his election to city council.

"If you're asking me personally if I agree with Bill 64, I guess my straight answer would have to be no, not in its current form," says Meier. "And again, I do want to stress that I'm not speaking on behalf of council. I'm certainly not an educator, but being 12 years on the school board did give me maybe a bit of an insight to the way things operate, not only on a local level, but on provincial level."

The former trustee notes that the biggest concern is the removal of local autonomy when it comes to decision making. There are many factors that rural divisions must consider that could be overlooked if this process is streamlined from the provincial level. Bussing students, inclement weather cancellations, and the Hutterian schools are just a few examples

"The one thing that I was really proud of that the board was able to accomplish for the years that I spent on there was really looking at our local needs and finding ways to make sure that we dealt with the situations that our students, our educators, our teachers, and our administrators needed on a local level," says Meier. "Every division is kind of special and unique in its own way. I'm not speaking for the school board, but I think that's what they're trying to say as well, is that it's important to understand that our local needs sometimes differ from those of other regions."

Should Bill 64 be successful, the Government of Manitoba calls for the creation and establishment of a Provincial Education Authority to replace local elected officials that currently make up the province's school trustee system. The government says it will have a road map ready in September of this year that will provide more information.

Tracy Asham, Portage la Prairie School Division's public relations committee chair, says that education should matter to everybody and that politically appointed, centralized decisions from individuals with no vested interest in the community is problematic.

"We should be strengthening our partnerships with one another, it is vital for the survival and success of our diverse and vibrant community. School facilities, gyms, playgrounds and sports fields are utilized by the broader community for a variety of non-school activities - education does matter to everyone," says Asham. "And costs related to local crime prevention, health care, homelessness, family services, and even library services all depend on how educated our community is. The increase in improving numbers of graduates from PLPSD over the years bodes well and gives hope for our community's future success."

Committee hearings surrounding the bill are set to take place at the provincial level, but those can't happen until the bill has had its second reading. This won't happen until October when the legislature's fall session begins.