Hogan to DEC: Drop legal fight or be disbanded

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Education Minister Bill Hogan has warned the Anglophone East School District education council that he will seek to dissolve the council if it doesn’t stop using money from its budget to pay for its court challenge to Policy 713.

In a letter dated April 30 to DEC chair Harry Doyle, Hogan said that in his opinion, the council is using its resources in an “irresponsible manner” by spending nearly $280,000 to take the province to court. 

The money doesn’t fall within any of the permissible categories of the Education Act and is a misappropriation of public funds, he wrote. 

“These are funds that were meant to support public education and is a missed opportunity to support improved educational outcomes in your district and schools,” wrote Hogan, adding that if the council doesn’t drop its legal proceedings by 5 p.m. on Thursday, he intends to seek the dissolution of the council. 

Doyle said Wednesday that he could not comment on the matter because he has not met with the members of the council. The next DEC meeting is scheduled for May 21. 

The legal challenge is aimed at the province’s controversial changes to Policy 713, which require students under the age of 16 to have parental consent to go by their preferred name and pronoun. In response, the district developed its own version of the policy that removed the age restriction. 

Hogan has repeatedly ordered the council to amend or repeal its policy to match the provincial policy.  In a letter dated April 22, Hogan told the council its “defiance in the face of clear direction” left him no choice but to repeal the district’s policy. 

While that policy is no longer on the district’s website, the education council held a special meeting last week to adopt a new, identical policy that went online in place of the one Hogan repealed. 

In his latest letter, Hogan listed a series of actions the council must complete by Thursday, including instructing its legal team at Power Law to immediately return all money previously provided in trust to the council and to account for any money spent to date, including an accounting of the funds paid to the experts retained in connection with the litigation. 

Hogan also instructed the council to confirm in writing that it will no longer spend any money on the legal challenge of Policy 713, or any other litigation against the province, without written authorization in accordance with Policy 126: Legal Services for District Education Councils.

Besides the challenge over Policy 713, the council is also seeking a series of injunctions to stop Hogan from repealing its district policy, from dissolving the DEC together, and from enforcing sections of the government’s revised Policy 713.

A case management conference for that matter is scheduled to take place in Moncton on Friday. 

The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment. However, on Tuesday, department spokesperson Diana Chávez said in response to a request for comment about Hogan’s letter notifying the council that its policy has been repealed, that the department will not comment on matters that are before the courts.