Education Reform Update of december 8, 1997

Admission and Enrolment of Students for the 1998-99 School Year

The Québec education system is undergoing the most important reform in its history. On July 1, 1998, the existing Catholic and Protestant school boards will be replaced by new French-language and English-language school boards. The changes under way will affect student admission and enrolment, both of which are very important to parents, schools and school boards. The ministère de l’Éducation and the school boards will do everything they can to simplify matters for parents.

Two Definitions

Admission is the procedure by which parents ask a school board to provide educational services to their child and by which the school board recognizes that it has the authority to do so.

Enrolment is the procedure by which the school board tells the parents, after they have expressed their choice, which school their child will attend.

Admission

In any given territory, there will always be two new school boards, one French, the other English. The only exceptions are the Cree, Kativik and du Littoral school boards, which provide educational services in both French and English.

With the exception of these three school boards, students living in a given territory will necessarily be admitted to either the French-language or English-language school board. The same is true for students placed in a reception centre in that territory.

Regardless of their mother tongue, all children in a given territory may be admitted to the French-language school board.

Only students who have a certificate of eligibility for instruction in English may be admitted to the English-language school board, if they or their parents so choose. Parents enrolling their child for the first time in an English-language school board in 1998-99 must either supply a certificate of eligibility for instruction in English or apply for such a certificate.

Admission will be particularly important this year, as it will have an impact on:

• the distribution of schools between the new school boards;
• the reassignment of personnel;
• the drawing up of the electoral list for the school elections to be held in June 1998;
• the collection of school taxes.

Most of these activities are exceptional and will not be repeated every year.

It is vital that school boards admit only those students who fall under their jurisdiction. Otherwise, parents’ right to vote in the school elections may be compromised, since the electoral lists will be drawn up on the basis of the information received from parents at the time of their children’s admission.

Enrolment

At the outcome of the admission procedure, all parties involved know under which school board a student falls. However, which school he or she will attend is decided only at the time of enrolment.

Students must always be admitted to and enrolled at the school board which has jurisdiction over the area in which they are living. If, for a special reason, parents want their child to attend a school that is part of another school board, the school board which admitted the child may make an agreement with the other school board so that it will provide educational services to the child.

It is also at the time of enrolment that students or their parents choose among Catholic religious and moral instruction, Protestant moral and religious education, and moral education.

Admission and Enrolment Period

The admission of students for the coming school year is usually carried out at the end of winter, in February or March. Exceptionally this year, it may begin as early as December. The exact dates will vary from one school board to another.

In 1998-99, because of the various activities based on student admissions, some of the new school boards may admit and enrol students in two separate steps; others may do so simultaneously. The provisional councils are responsible for giving parents all of the information they need to ensure the smooth running of these operations.

Keeping an Eye on Kindergarten for Five-year-olds

The government’s decision to change over to full-day kindergarten has raised many questions and has involved the adoption of a number of legislative, financial and pedagogical measures.

After the basic school regulation was amended so that kindergarten could be offered on a full-day basis, additional teachers were hired. In fact, it is estimated that the original number of kindergarten teachers, close to 2  500, has doubled. Exact figures will be available in January 1998. In addition to hiring new teachers, the ministère de l’Éducation granted $110 million to the school boards for refurbishing or building classrooms. This amount included $100 per child for the purchase of non- consumable teaching materials. Out of 2 000 new classrooms in 151 school boards, less than 40 (2 percent) were not completed by early October.

As promised by the Minister of Education, Pauline Marois, a follow-up committee will examine all of the issues related to full-day kindergarten. It will gather the opinions and recommendations of individuals and organizations in the school system as well as those of parents. A committee in charge of revising the preschool education program will assess the relevance of these recommendations and will propose changes to the Minister.

The official version of the preschool education program is scheduled for release in May.

The next issue will look at:

• Amendments to the Education Act