"The decision to abolish school boards in the province will have a negative impact on our education system and students," said Mr. Joyce. "The school boards in the province were tasked with improving the school system and educational programming for our young people, and put the learning needs of our students as a first priority. These individuals were elected, experienced, and qualified to administer our education system.

"Unfortunately, government has decided to scrap school boards in the province and has appointed political friends to carry out the process of eliminating these boards. In the Western District, Nada Borden was appointed to fulfill this role. Ms. Borden is a political patronage appointment, has no experience in the educational system of our province and is not qualified to carry out these duties. I fear that the students of the province will be the ones who will suffer because of this decision.

"To cover up their disregard for the students of our province, government has resorted to night sittings to hide their gradual dismantling of our education system. They are moving forward in a haphazard fashion that will have no benefit to our students. This government is more concerned with saving a few dollars on the backs of our young people, rather than improving our system to provide new opportunities for their future.

"With the passage of this legislation in the early hours of this morning, I fear that future funding for our education system will be substantially cut. This government has just eliminated 476 teaching positions, many of which are on the west coast. There are hundreds of jobs cut from school boards across the province. They committed in their election blue book to reinvest any savings from the education system back into the system. The Minister of Education has since stated that they will not be reinvesting this money, another broken commitment! How many more cuts will our young people have to endure from this government?"