MOOSEJAWTODAY.COM — The Saskatchewan government has mandated that school divisions fly the provincial flag at all schools, but for Prairie 麻豆传媒AV School Division (PSSD), the cost to fulfill this directive may be too expensive.
The directive was part of the provincial government’s Bill 137 — known as The Education (Parents’ Bill of Rights) Amendment Act, 2023. The act requires children under 16 to have parental consent to use a different gender-related name or pronoun at school.
Subsection 184(1) of the act reads: “Subject to the regulations, every school shall provide for the display of the flag of Canada outside and inside the school building.”
An amendment adds “and the flag of Saskatchewan” to the section.
The Ministry of Education said it would work with school divisions to determine flag inventories and next steps to assist in ensuring the provincial pennant is flown across the province.
“The development of attitudes, understandings and skills that support active and responsible citizenship is foundational to Saskatchewan curricula, and the provincial flag is an important part of our history and culture,” the ministry said.
During PSSD’s November board meeting, a trustee inquired about how many schools have the Saskatchewan flag on display inside and outside their buildings and what the cost would be to install flags.
Division administration provided an answer during the December meeting, saying 31 of 34 schools do not have the provincial flag outside their buildings and 14 do not have the flag on display inside.
As for expenses, one flag costs $80, an in-ground pole costs $10,000 and a roof-mount flagpole costs $300.
Therefore, it could cost $2,480 to purchase outdoor flags for the 31 schools, $1,120 to purchase indoor flags for the 14 schools and $310,000 to purchase 31 in-ground poles. However, if schools don’t want ground-based poles, then 31 roof-mounted poles could cost $9,300.
Therefore, it could cost PSSD between $12,900 and $313,600 to purchase the necessary supplies.
“I’m not sure how we’re going to approach this whole process. This is a pretty significant amount of money (the ministry is) asking us to spend on flags,” said trustee Crystal Froese. “We’re struggling already, so … do we know if they’re going to cost share on this initiative they have?”
Froese added that a lack of partnership is a shortfall of the mandate, while this issue has nothing to do with not wanting to fly the Canadian or Saskatchewan flags.
The division is unsure if the ministry will share costs since the latter has not committed either way, said education director Ryan Boughen. Meanwhile, some PSSD schools have wall plaques with the Saskatchewan flags on them, while the division can’t even acquire flags because they’re on backorder.
Boughen pointed out that while the division office has flag poles for the Canadian and Saskatchewan flags, it also has three roof-mounted poles to fly other pennants.
“People have commented that that looks nice, it’s appropriate (and) it’s economical,” he said. “So we are examining other options.”
Senior administration is accountable for ensuring schools follow these directives, but since it just acquired the necessary information, the division isn’t doing “too bad” on this issue, Boughen added.
Since this is a government mandate, trustee Lew Young wondered what the repercussions were for not following its orders, especially since the division is policing itself. Moreover, there is the cost to consider.
“We are asked to educate students, not put up flags on poles,” he said, pointing out that the province is refusing to hand over carbon tax money to Ottawa. “Hopefully, we (PSSD) can find a solution.”
Trustee Patrick Boyle thought it was ironic that if the division did not pay $480,000 in carbon taxes on its natural gas consumption, it could afford these supplies. Also, he thought the flags should have been flying at these schools “since day 1,” noting the American flag flies at all schools with “no questions asked.”
The next PSSD meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 9.
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