The Alberta provincial election hasn't been called, hasn't even been set in stone as yet but the Rocky View School Board is already preparing for it and wants to be sure that people are asking the right questions about education to the candidates.  

The Advocacy Committee is responsible for advocating for education and making sure the issue is front and centre at election time.  School Board Chair Todd Brand is also on the committee that spearheads advocating for education.  Brand says the Advocacy Committee is one of the most important in Rocky View since education is so vital.

The Advocacy Committee finalized their position earlier this fall.  Brand explained what they consider priorities.

"Basically the three points of that were about reviewing the funding framework, about the need for further capital investment in our schools and also a review of inclusion to make sure that inclusion is really well funded in our schools, not just in Rocky View but across the province.  We wrote a letter to the Minister of Education to make sure that the Minister was aware of what we are advocating for and try to set up a meeting so that we could try to talk about these positions in person."

The response from the Minister was typical but very positive according to Brand who says that David Eggen has always tried to connect with school boards.  He responded that they were going to try to work out a meeting to sit down in Edmonton, or when he is coming through the area, to try to sit down and talk about Rocky View's advocacy positions.

As the provincial election campaign will likely begin soon after the new year, Brand says the board has decided to not hold meetings as a group with MLAs until after the election.  They will continue to meet as individual board members with the MLAs from their respective areas.  Soon after the election, the board plans to invite MLAs to meet with the board as a whole.

Brand says that as the election approaches, the Advocacy Committee wants all voters to know that education must be a priority to every candidate running.

"We want to help every voter who's out there to have some good questions to ask their MLA candidates in their local area some questions that will help them determine where these MLA candidates are coming from, from an education perspective.  Our role as trustees during the election is certainly not to support one particular side or the other but to make sure everyone is talking about education and keep education as one of the issues that people are using to determine who to vote for." 

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