Quebec school board bill to be tabled Friday

Quebec Education Minister Franois Blais is expected to table a bill today in the National Assembly that would change the way school boards are governed.

According to information obtained by Radio-Canada, the new bill would abolish school board elections.

It will also give parents more control. Instead of having school board councils made up of commissioners, there would be school councils made up of parents, staff and people from the community.

All 72 school boards in the province wouldsurvive. Under the new bill, there would not be any mergers. Boards would still be responsible for matters such as student bus transportation and the organization of educational services but some decision-making powers would go to the schools' parents and teachers.

School boards will also be strongly advised to merge services as a way to cut costs.

On Thursday morning, Premier Philippe Couillard hinted at his government's intentionto change the way school boards operate.

"Quebec's education system has many qualities, but we must go further, especially when it comes to giving more autonomy to schools, giving more space to parents, to teachers and I think that's the direction we're going in," Couillard said.

The bill will also have measures in place to protect anglophone rights.

School taxes will be maintained.

Bill months in the making

The Liberal government has been promising tooverhaulthe school board system for more thana year.

In 2014, then education minister Yves Bolduc said thatvoter turnout in the French school board electionsof aroundfiveper cent renderedthe "status quo" unacceptable.

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English school boards in the province average a higher turnout. For example, in the2014 election,they averaged a voter participation rate of17 per cent.

In May 2015, Blais confirmed that school board elections would be scrapped.Quebec's federation of school boards denounced the move, calling it anti-democratic.