SRSB rep lobbies for rural education
PORT BICKERTON - A rookie member of the Strait Regional School Board is relishing the chance to push for strong programs and services in rural schools, both here at home and among fellow school board representatives across Canada.
Kim Horton, who was first elected to the SRSB's West Guysborough district in October 2004, joined three of her SRSB colleagues at the Atlantic School Boards' Association (ASBA) conference earlier this winter in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. On the final weekend of March, she'll represent the region in Saskatoon at the eleventh annual Congress on Rural Education in Canada. And Horton's recent address to the SRSB's working committee on the plight of rural schools will reach the floor of the Nova Scotia School Boards Association (NSSBA) conference as one of the SRSB's formal resolutions to the provincial gathering in May.
Through it all, Horton has remained adamant that the education-funding decision-makers shouldn't base their choices solely on student population numbers.
"The province has tried to address this with the Department of Education's Options and Opportunities initiative, and that's been adopted in some of our region's larger schools, like SAERC and Dr. John Hugh Gillis Regional High School," Horton points out.
"That's great and wonderful, but if you live in Canso, Dover, Port Bickerton - or say, Pleasant Bay - you should have the same access to these programs as well. And I'm glad to see that a lot of the other board members feel the same way."
The Port Bickerton-based mother of two was pleased to join her SRSB colleagues Rosalee Parker, Clarence Reddick and Pam Cotton for the ASBA conference at Corner Brook in January. Horton describes the experience as "invaluable," especially in terms of communicating with other board representatives from around the east coast.
"The Newfoundland conference provided great insight into what the other boards were doing," Horton recalls. "It reinforces the fact that so many other boards are facing many of the same challenges."
With this common ground in mind, Horton is looking forward to this month's national conference in Saskatoon, which is co-sponsored by the Saskatchewan Education Learning Unit, the Saskatchewan School Boards Association and the Saskatchewan Teacher's Federation.
The West Guysborough representative is confident that this trip out west will put some wind in her sails as she and her SRSB colleagues bring their rural-school programming resolutions to the floor of the NSSBA convention later this spring.
"With declining enrollment, it is vital that the board lobby for protection of services, by funding programs as well as per-student," Horton insists.
"There is a need for equality. If the Department (of Education) is going to mandate programs, then the board has to ensure that program offerings are compatible."
