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Thomas Lukaszuk has been appointed minister of education. Premier Alison Redford made the announcement October 12 when she unveiled her new cabinet.
Lukaszuk, who previously served as minister of employment and immigration and as parliamentary assistant to the minister of municipal affairs, was first elected in 2001 as MLA for Edmonton-Castle Downs. He holds a bachelor of education degree from the University of Alberta and taught in Edmonton schools before founding Injured Workers Advocates Inc., a firm designed to assist injured workers with work-related injury claims. Prior to his election, he served on the Social Care Facilities Review Committee and the Citizens’ Appeal Panel and conducted a review of daycares, foster homes, group homes and homeless shelters for the minister of children’s services.
Dave Hancock, the former minister of education, was appointed minister of human services, a new portfolio that consolidates responsibility for children and youth services, employment, homelessness and social supports. Janice Sarich, MLA for Edmonton-Decore, was reappointed parliamentary assistant to the minister of education while Keray Henke was reappointed deputy minister of education.
Within hours of his appointment, Lukaszuk stood alongside Redford to announce the fulfillment of one of her campaign promises, the restoration of the $107 million cut from the 2011/12 education budget. The funding “will be transferred to Alberta school boards so that they can deliver on the promises that were made by our premier,” Lukaszuk said. “We will be expecting a palpable improvement within the classroom structures and the classroom environment.”
In making the cabinet announcement, Redford also announced the establishment of a Cabinet Policy Committee on Education. Previously, education was subsumed under the Cabinet Policy Committee on Community Services, along with affordable housing, community development, culture, homelessness, libraries, municipal affairs, parks, recreation, tourism, urban affairs and the volunteer sector.
The new Cabinet Policy Committee on Education is responsible only for K–12 and postsecondary education. Lukaszuk, along with Minister of Advanced Education and Technology Greg Weadick, serves on the 11-member committee, which is chaired by Genia Leskiw, MLA for Bonnyville–Cold Lake.
In 2009, Leskiw shepherded Motion 503 through the legislative assembly. The motion, which was agreed to, urged government "to eliminate provincial achievement tests for grade three students and consider alternative assessments for learning." During her leadership campaign, Redford committed to eliminate Grade 3 and 6 achievement tests while offering "regular but sensitive measurements of academic performance and expected outcomes."
Lukaszuk also serves as a member of the influential Agenda and Priorities Committee, which coordinates the long-range, high-level, strategic activities of government.
The ATA News will feature an interview with Minister of Education Lukaszuk in an upcoming issue.
