Teachers, parents, and students have better defined roles now that the reworked Education Act passed in the legislature on Monday night.
The Redford government says that Bill 3 also contains some of the toughest anti-bullying measures in the country.
The bill also allows for more local decision making by school boards, while still allowing parents the choice of sending their kids to public, separate, francophone, private, and chartered schools.
“The Education Act is actually the first legislation in Canada to formally recognize the role of parents as a child's first and most important teacher,” said Education Minister Jeff Johnson. “As a parent, that is something I am very proud of.”
The provincial government made the decision to bring back the proposed Education Act nearly a week after the suicide of Amanda Todd, a B.C. teenager who took her own life to escape bullying.
Back in October, Calgary Police Chief Rick Hanson said he was skeptical over the new act.
“The last thing this country needs is another law,” said Hanson. “We've got a book that's 4 inches thick, that's full of laws and the applicable law is there.”
“What's required under any law is the ability to gather evidence. If you talk to the victims of bullying, they'd rather see it not happening then see it go so far to need a criminal code and charges laid that take three years.”
He says that more weight needs to be put into relationships between children, parents, teachers, and law enforcement.
The Education Act replaces the School Act of 1988.
