Yves Bolduc says 'transformation is coming' to Quebec school boards

Quebec Minister of Education, Yves Bolduc, says the government will propose "significant changes" to the role, organization and governance of school boardsoverthe next few months.

His comments come after Sunday's school board elections.

The current [school board] structure does not reflect the needs of the population- Yves Bolduc, Quebec education minister

Going into the election,Bolducwarned that voter turnout would be crucial in determining the future of school boards.

While the voter turnout for English boards in Montreal was up, turnout for theFrench boards dropped.

With an estimated province-wide election participation rate of fiveper cent, Bolducsays the "status quo" is no longer acceptable.

"This weak turnout shows that the current structure does not reflect the needs of the population," he said in a statement on Monday.

The minister would not rule out the possibility that someschool boards could be forced to merge.

A day after the election, school board chairs were already bracing for change.

I think we need to look at the options of which services can be brought together for efficiency's sake and also because we are in a crunch in Quebec," said Angela Mancini, who was elected for a second mandate as chair of the English Montreal School Board.

"We will have to take a look at all means ... without touching the services to students.

Voter turnout up for MontrealEnglish school boards

About 21 per cent of people eligible to vote in the EMSB elections cast their ballotsa strong turnout for an election that was mired in controversy.

That turnout was up from 17 per centin 2007.

The president of the Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) saidhe was pleased with the turnout.

I think people were very much behind the Englishschool board and wanted to let the government know- Angela Mancini, EMSBchair

"We werefighting all odds ... Canadiens hockey game, families very busy on aSunday," said David D'Aoust, the head of QESBA, an advocacy group for English-language school boards.

Despite the higher turnout for English boards,Bolducsaid they would not be immune to changes.

D'Aoustsaid he is waiting to find out more abouthow those changes will take shape.

"I hear this idea of sweeping changes but we haven't seen what these sweeping changes are, so it's difficult to comment. Does he want to reduce all the English boards to one school board? I can tell you right now that's totally unreasonable in my opinion," D'Aoust said.

Voter issues, long waits plague school board elections

During Sunday's election, many polling stations were dealing with voter issues, including people being left off thevoterlist and long lineups.

• Complaints over school board elections as people turned away

"I know of at least 200 people who walked away from polls at DorvalElementary because the lineup was too long," saidSuanneStein Day, who was re-elected chair of the Lester B. Pearson School Board.

Mancini saysit'scrucial to address those kinds of problems.

Certainly there needs to be a better way for people to transfer onto our English voter list, "Mancini toldDaybreakhost Mike Finnerty.

She said introducingelectronic votersign upcould be a solution.

Despite the hiccups, Mancini said she was glad to see the communitycame out to vote.

I think people were very much behind the English school board and wanted to let the government know," Mancini said.