Parents protest cuts to N.B. education department

A group of parents' organizations used a private meeting with Education Minister Kelly Lamrock on Wednesday to express their anger over planned cuts to the education system.

The parents are demanding the government reverse its decision to cut some librarian, teacher assistant and intervention staff positions.

After meeting with Lamrock, Jean-Marie Nadeau, the president of the New Brunswick Acadian Society, said the cuts are not yet a done deal provided people continue to fight them.

"With political will anything can be done. The budget is not finalized — they didn't finish discussing it," Nadeau said.

"People will have to stand on their feet [and protest]."

The Education Department has already released a series of changes that have angered parents, such as strictly enforcing a school transportation rule that will mean children who live 2.4 kilometres or closer from school will now have to walk.

In April, Lamrock asked teachers to delay planned reductions in class sizes and in return the province could afford to keep literacy and resource teachers.

In their meeting Wednesday, Nadeau said, Lamrock told him the decision to make the cuts did not come from the Education Department, but from the government as a whole.

Nadeau said he believes cutting the Education Department runs contrary to the Liberal government's repeated statements in the last two years that student test scores were starting to rebound after being the lowest in Canada.

"Why stop that process now? It is completely irresponsible," Nadeau said.

"I don't understand the rationale, especially when they say the kids are the centre of the [self-sufficiency agenda]."