“Sigh of relief”: Cut to Regina school funds to be revisited

After a few words by Gord Wyant in the legislature chambers, the Cornwall Alternative School in Regina has hope again.

On Tuesday afternoon, the education minister said he will revisit the decision to cut more than $700,000 worth of funding from the school. The decision was announced in last week’s budget.

Eunice Cameron was in the gallery with students and former students from the school when the minister made the announcement.

“I let a sigh of relief because,” she paused, “it has been very emotional.”

Cameron used to be the principal at Cornwall and is currently a board member.

“We have staff right now who are stressed to the hilt, who are not sleeping,” she said. “We have students who have been punted out many areas in their life and now feel they’re being punted out again, and it is very scary.”

Cameron said the kids won’t get what they need if they have to go back to the public system — they need the support Cornwall gives to be able to get back to school and to rise above the negative expectations often set for them.

Cameron was set to meet with the education minister after Question Period on Tuesday afternoon, and said she would tell him to restore the funding, and do it quickly.

Speaking to media, Wyant admitted there was a problem with the decision-making process in this instance.

“I make decisions based on the best information that I have, that comes to me. And I think that’s a bit of a failing on my part, that I didn’t reach out, that I didn’t ask enough questions when it came to the decision that we made in the budget,” he said. “But those are the conversations; those are the questions that I’m going to ask now.”

Wyant said he has already reached out to some, and he wants to have conversations with trustees, board members, students and parents.

The decision to revisit the funding cut was made because Wyant said he also got some information on programming in the public system that he wanted to flesh out — information about the programming’s adequacy for students coming out of Cornwall.

There was also an outpouring of support from the school’s community, and Wyant said if it weren’t for that, he might not be having these new conversations.

Wyant said he’s not taking anything off the table as talks move forward, and he just wants to make sure the right programming is available for the kids.

“If there’s more information that can come to bear on the decision that’s already been made, then we’ll reverse it,” said Wyant, who noted he wants to move forward quickly on the matter.