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'The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed by menacing it with an endless series of hobglobins, all of them imaginary.'
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(FB036)
June 24, 2005

Manitoba’s School Board Amalgamations—Before and After

Executive Summary
  • In 2001, Manitoba’s Minister of Education announced that the number of school boards in the province would be reduced from 54 to 37.
  • One of the main reasons given for the change was efficiency, that the reduction of unnecessary duplication would save up to $10 million.
  • Despite that prediction, overall spending by amalgamated school divisions has been greater than it was prior to amalgamation.
  • Administrative cost savings have been almost negligible, with reductions in the order of only 2.6%, or half a million dollars, in amalgamated school divisions.
  • A previous Frontier backgrounder, Amalgamating School Boards Not an Answer, had found virtually no correlation between school board size and per-pupil expenditures. This finding is confirmed in the analysis of post-amalgamation school division expenditures.
  • Upward wage harmonization and the equalization of working conditions are largely responsible for substantial increases in personnel costs in amalgamated school divisions.
  • The time and energy spent on the amalgamation process would have been better directed towards meaningful education reform.

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    Related Items:

  • Amalgamating School Boards Not An Answer
  • Are School Boards Obsolete?
  • Education Frontiers Project
  • For more on education policy . . .

    Author's Picture Dennis Owens was the Frontier's Senior Policy Analyst (1997-2007). A descendant of homesteaders near Portage la Prairie, he graduated from the University of Winnipeg in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Science. Over a 20-year career in the transportation business, he rose to the position of operations manager of a Winnipeg-based firm. Since then he has researched and written about Canadian public policy issues for a variety of organizations including the Manitoba Taxpayers Association and the Prairie Centre. His specialties at the Frontier Centre include municipal issues, public education, healthcare and aboriginal policy. His frequent exposure in electronic and print media has included a regular commentary on CBC radio and articles printed in the Wall Street Journal and the National Post


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