Justice in Education? The Provincial Takeover of School District 44

grantor: University of TorontoThis thesis explores the removal from office of the North Vancouver Board of School Trustees by the British Columbia Minister of Education, in January 1996. Under allegations of financial mismanagement, the trustees were replaced by a government appointed official trustee. This case study examines the action and attitudes of local and provincial politicians, the local teachers' union, school board trustees and administrators, and parents, in the events surrounding the removal of the trustees. A historical overview of public education traces the increasing centralization of education finance and governance in British Columbia. The removal of the school trustees is analyzed in terms of provincial centralization and the corresponding loss of local autonomy; and in terms of the related tension between the principles of equality of educational opportunity and cost-containment. The thesis concludes by making recommendations to improve education funding and increase local school board autonomy in British Columbia.M.A