1. Social Studies 6: Local Government
Topic 2: School Boards

2. What is a School Board? Another form of local government.
Members of school boards are elected by voters. These members are called TRUSTEES.
Trustees are up for election every THREE YEARS.

3. Types of School Boards
There are 60 different school boards in Alberta. Larger cities have more than one school board.
There is usually more than one type of school boards in a region: Public, Separate/ Catholic. Francophone, First Nations. Voters have to decide which school board they belong to and support with their taxes.

4. Private/Charter Schools
In addition there are private charter schools which do not belong to a school board.
They are required to carry out the same CURRICULUM as the school boards, but they usually have a special focus which makes them unique.

5. What do School Boards Do?
School boards make decisions on how schools will teach the subjects that the Alberta minister of education requires.
This can include things like: choosing which textbooks, how big class-sizes can be, etc.
Each school board has a budget from the provincial government. The more kids in the district’s schools, the larger the budget.

6. What is a Superintendent?
Just like a town council has a city manager to carry out their bylaws, school boards hire a superintendent to carry out their decisions.
The superintendent then hires principals who are in charge of hiring for their own schools.