Current Priorities
Re-elect a proven advocate for change. Jaimie is a strong, local voice for our communities and our children.
Putting local needs first.
Since I was first elected, I have consistently advocated for local, provincial and systemic changes that put students first and reflect the priorities of our communities.
For the past 15 years I have championed equity in education, ensuring all students regardless of where they go to school, have high quality education in properly resourced classrooms.
In particular, I have been a vocal advocate for stable, predictable, transparent and sufficient provincial funding for Saskatchewan Rivers Public Schools.
I fully support the goals and targets laid out for the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Board Strategic Plan to increase reading levels, school mental health and well-being, early learning success, as well as graduation rates for all students.
Here are my top ten priorities, if re-elected:
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View Active Public Advocacy Initiatives on SSBA website
PDFs are downloadable on the SSBA website
1. Funding.
Increased education funding for the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Board is crucial to ensure that all students have access to the resources and opportunities they need to succeed. For our rural schools in Subdivision 3, increased funding is essential to maintain staffing ratios, quality programs, and facilities.
I have been a tireless advocate for sufficient, stable, predictable, and transparent funding throughout my tenure as a trustee. Sufficient funding is essential to provide quality learning experiences for students, support for staff, and to maintain safe and inclusive schools.
After a decade of chronic underfunding, the division is facing growing pressures with inflationary costs, increasing needs of vulnerable students, unfunded student needs, increasingly diverse classrooms, and aging infrastructure. The provincial funding allocation for the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division has not kept pace with growing needs.
If re-elected, I will continue to champion stable, predictable, transparent operational funding for the school division with sufficient dollars announced on budget day.
If re-elected, I will continue to advocate locally and provincially for operational dollars that keep up with the cost of inflation, enrollment growth and inclusive education.
Our students deserve informed, evidence-based policies that can be sustained, adapted, and lead to lasting, systemic change in the delivery of high quality inclusive education.
If re-elected, I am fully committed to collaborating with all partners to implementing high-quality and fully-funded inclusive education in the province of Saskatchewan.
The best possible outcome for students will be created through collaboration and working together towards solutions that support inclusive classrooms, equitable outcomes for all students. Increased investment is needed for this work. The best policy outcomes won’t happen in a vacuum, and they won’t happen overnight; the best policies will be born through collaboration. I’m fully committed to that work.
“Strong and vibrant publicly funded education begins with a shared vision & benefits from collaboration. Local voices means local choice.”
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View Active Public Advocacy Initiatives on SSBA website
PDFs are downloadable on the SSBA website
2. Full-Time Kindergarten.
Saskatchewan is one of three jurisdictions in Canada that does not provide universal full-time Kindergarten.
Saskatchewan Rivers School Division’s early years data shows that high quality half-time Kindergarten programs is effective in preparing our earliest learners for success in reading, school and life. It’s time to double down.
If re-elected, I will table a motion to request that administration prepare a costed and phased implementation plan for full-time Kindergarten. This will form the basis of advocacy to the provincial government who is responsible for education funding levels.
If re-elected, I will continue to advocate with school communities for Pre-Kindergarten programs.
Learn more about innovative early years programming in the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division, here.
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View Active Public Advocacy Initiatives on SSBA website
PDFs are downloadable on the SSBA website
3. School Nutrition Programs.
Canada is the last G7 country to implement a national school nutrition program. Saskatchewan has the lowest provincial investment in school food programming across the country and Prince Albert (and area) child poverty rates are higher than 35%. Food insecurity is a barrier to learning.
Because access to food at school improves learning, achievement, school attendance and health, access to food at school is critical.
If re-elected, I will table a motion that the board of education develop a farm-to-school policy and program proposal, invite the Ministers of Health, Rural and Remote Health, Education and Agriculture to meet with the school board and match new federal investments into local school school nutrition programs.
4. A Vision for Rural Education.
Rural schools are the hub and heart of rural communities.
Rural schools face particular challenges due to enrollment changes, provincial funding decreases and uncertainty about the impacts and opportunities possible through online learning.
If re-elected, I will continue to champion rural schools by advocating for the development of a local and provincial Strategy for Rural Education in Saskatchewan, one that positions Saskatchewan’s rural schools to lead the country in offering vibrant, innovative rural education.
“Strong and vibrant publicly funded education begins with a shared vision & benefits from collaboration. Local voices means local choice.”
5. Safe & Caring Schools.
All students and staff need safe learning environments.
I am committed to the development of a Safe and Caring Schools policy and first brought this forward to the board’s policy committee in the 2022-2023 school year in response to community and staff concerns.
If re-elected, I will continue to advance safe and caring schools by bringing back a motion to create a Safe and Caring Schools Policy that will improve local accountability reporting and board oversight.
If re-elected, I will also support the creation of a provincial level commitment to developing a Safe and Caring Schools strategy.
If re-elected, I will also work collaboratively with board of education colleagues locally and provincially to advance wrap-around services in schools that support student mental health, safety and wellbeing.
6. Inclusion & Classroom Supports.
Inclusion means that all students are welcomed, respected, and given the opportunity to learn, achieve and belong. It is a collective responsibility to remove barriers to inclusion.
Since 2016, the Board of Education has prioritized supporting vulnerable students as its number one advocacy focus. There are significant un-funded costs to implementing inclusion. Sask Rivers receives approximatley $14.7 million from the provincial government in Supports for Learning funding, annually on budget day. In reality - the board usually stretches dollars to spend +$16.5 million and there continues to be unmet, growing needs. Inclusive education should be fully funded. Successful advocacy has resulted in increases to funding for diverse students in 2013, 2023, and 2024, along with a new four-year commitment from the provincial government to work with all education sector partners to better understand and provide Classroom Supports. This is an important opportunity to work collaboratively, identify existing needs and unmet needs within the publicly funded system and advocate for fully funded inclusive education in Saskatchewan.
In the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division, the numbers of students requiring additional supports in our classrooms continues to grow. According to the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accountability Report, 1,837 students have recognized needs requiring intensive supports, far exceeding the provincial funding received for their education. Annually, the board finds efficiencies in order to better fund inclusive education.
If re-elected, I will continue to work hard to secure sufficient funding for inclusive education, as well as a needs-based funding approach that more accurately reflects the growing diversity in classrooms.
If re-elected, I will support the development of an accessibility plan as outlined in the Saskatchewan Accessibility Act.
If re-elected, I will advocate for provincial funding to actualize the recommendations of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission’s findings in their recent report, “Right to Read.”
Additionally, on re-election, I will continue advocating for community-based supports, the expansion of mental health capacity building in schools, and wraparound services for youth. For example, we need child psychiatrist in Prince Albert, and dedicated funding for nurses in schools. Every school should have have a Mental Health Capacity Building program. Co-locating health and mental health services in schools makes sense.
If re-elected, I will support an annual board review of staffing formulas and public reporting on staffing ratios through the Human Resources Accountability Report while prioritizing appropriate staffing levels for classroom instruction.
Finally, if re-elected, I will support ongoing opportunities for local teacher input on classroom supports and professional development needs to support high quality inclusive education.
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7. Indigenous Education.
Over the past 15 years, the 3-year graduation rate for Indigenous learners in the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division has almost doubled. This is promising, but we can do better. Currently, the 3-year grad rate for FNMI learners is 60% and the 5-year grad rate for FNMI learners is 73%. These results are trending in the right direction and require consistent, intentional focus to ensure that all students experience equitable outcomes.
By continuing to focus on cultural responsiveness, student and family engagement, partnerships and decolonizing policies and practices, we will eliminate this gap. If re-elected I will continue to champion systemic changes needed to achieve equitable outcomes for Indigenous students.
If re-elected, I will continue to advocate for changes to the Local Government Elections Act to remove barriers for Indigenous people to vote and run in school board elections. Anything else is disenfranchisement.
If re-elected, I will table a motion that the newly elected board of education include in its orientation program the completion of Four Seasons of Reconciliation (Reconciliation Education) and Equity and Racial Justice Training (University of Regina) programs.
If re-elected, I will continue to support the work of the Saskatchewan Rivers Elders Council, Elders in schools as well as Cree and Michif language programs. I will also support a policy review to ensure that the boards commitments to Indigenous Education are captured in its governance policies
If re-elected, I will continue to advocate federally for programs and funds that support Indigenous languages revitalization and reducing the administrative complexities associated with Jordan’s Principle funding.
8. Rural School Infrastructure Renewal.
Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division hasn’t had a new school built in almost two decades, since Vincent Massey School was built in Prince Albert in 2005. Our students deserve top-notch facilities and modern learning environments. It’s time to change our approach to how we advocate for facilities.
The top two capital priorities for the Saskatchewan Rivers School Board are both rural schools. The top major capital and minor capital priorities set by the division are driven by the board’s long-range Facilities Master Plan (2023).
If re-elected, I will continue to support the top priority schools: a major capital school replacement at W.P. Sandin Public High School and a small school capital project at Christopher Lake Public School. Both projects require feasibility work and community engagement.
However, actualizing this plan requires renewed advocacy; the board’s Master Plan can’t just sit at committee.
If re-elected, I will table a motion to dissolve the Facilities Committee and engage the whole board and administrative team in a quarterly review of the Facilities Master Plan, undertake feasibility study as appropriate, consult with School Community Councils, and develop a community engagement plan.
While Saskatchewan Rivers Public Schools are some of the best-maintained facilities in the province, our schools in Subdivision 3 are also aging. In 2023, the provincial allocation of Preventative Maintenance & Renewal (PMR) funding was cut, reducing what the board can accomplish with the maintenance of schools and creating a backlog of deferred maintenance. If re-elected, I will support provincial-level advocacy to increase PMR funding to the industry standard of 2% of the total value of all schools. For the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Board, this would mean an increase in funding from $5.3 million to $8.2 million in annual maintenance funding. This will help ensure that schools like Meath Park and Spruce Home School are well-maintained and modernized while continuing to offer high-quality learning environments and space for community use for generations to come.
If re-elected, I will also continue to advocate for dedicated funding for improved school accessibility under the new Accessible Saskatchewan Act, the removal of PST from school construction, and restored access to the Climate Action Incentive Fund to increase the efficiencies of schools.
“Parents and families are full partners in education and the safety, belonging, inclusion, human rights, and desire for equitable outcome for all students remains priority number one.”
9. Local Voice & Student Voice.
Education belongs to communities, and every voice matters.
If re-elected, I will continue to support Student Voice in school board governance and regional gatherings of School Community Councils, high school students, and principals.
If re-elected, I will advance a discussion about creating a stand-alone policy to strengthen the role and relationship between the school board and School Community Councils and will continue to promote board engagement with communities—providing meaningful opportunities and mechanisms to hear from teachers, support staff, First Nations and Métis partners, municipal partners, Elders, and families.
If re-elected, I will continue to be available and present in the community to attend school events and School Community Council meetings. I will continue to meet regularly with MLAs, MPs, and other officials to ensure that the voices of our communities are heard.
10. High Performance Governance & Grassroots Democracy.
I am committed to enhancing engagement and reporting on fiscal realities, student achievement, and advocacy efforts undertaken by the board of education.
If re-elected, I will bring forward a motion to livestream board meetings, increasing the visibility, transparency, and public participation in decision-making.
If re-elected, I will bring forward a proposal to review and renew a Code of Ethics and a Trustee Code of Conduct that includes clear language on Conflict of Interest. To underscore the non-partisan role of boards of education, if re-elected, I will also reintroduce a decision-item requesting the development of guidelines for trustees running for other levels of office—federal, provincial, or municipal politics.
If re-elected, I will also support governance certification for the new board, including requesting that the Ministry of Education enter into a cost-sharing arrangement with the board of education for trustees who become certified in governance.
I’m committed to enhancing democratic participation in school Board democracy.
If re-elected, I will introduce a motion to explore the feasibility of mail-in ballots to increase voter engagement and turnout in future school board elections, particularly for ratepayers residing in Subdivision 3 resort villages and communities that do not hold municipal elections on the same day/time as school board elections. This creates the opportunity for equal participation of electors throughout the Subdivision to vote or run in school board elections.
If re-elected, I will also work to extend voting rights to Indigenous people living on First Nations and Saskatchewan citizens living within the boundaries of Prince Albert National Park. All members of our school communities should have a voice and a vote in school board democracy, regardless of where they live. If residents of Subdivision 3 are eligible to vote in federal and provincial elections, they should also have the legal right to vote (or run as a candidate) in school board elections. Why? Because every voice and vote matters.