‘It’s democracy in action’: Former school board chair talks importance of trustee elections

Trisha Estabrooks on Alberta Primetime, Sept 24, 2025

Former chair of the Edmonton Public School Board Trisha Estabrooks joins Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins to discuss the importance of school board trustee elections.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: School board elections rarely grab headlines.

Why should they register on the radar of voters?

Trisha Estabrooks: It’s democracy in action, to be blunt about it. In this election cycle, there are a number of issues that I think Edmontonians, Albertans are paying attention to when it comes to education. The impending and possible strike labor action by teachers, or fingers crossed, maybe we’re going to see a deal here in the next couple of days.

I think anyone who has children in the school system, in particular in Calgary and Edmonton, knows just how full classrooms are across both of those cities. We’ve heard and we’ve witnessed considerable cuts to education over the last decade. These are conversations that are in the public discourse.

So even though trustee elections may not get the big spotlight like the mayor and the councillor races do, my sense is that people are starting to pay attention to these critical school board elections.

MH: What do you feel should motivate those who are seeking to be elected as trustees?

TE: I love to see it because it’s a big commitment to run for any level of office. So to hear from folks sort of hour rushing in to file nomination papers, I say kudos to anyone who puts their name on a ballot. Whether it’s for trustee or city councillor or mayoral races, at the heart of it, to serve as a school board trustee you need passion to serve your community and a passion for public education.

Over the course of my two terms as a school board trustee, and chatting with folks who are interested in this job, it’s a job where we require people to step up into this role. I think, unfortunately, this is a bit of a defend public education race that we’re seeing shape up across the province. Certainly looking to lots of candidates, I’m seeing that message play out that they are standing up for public education. There’s lots to talk about and lots to defend when we talk about public education in Alberta these days.

MH: You’ve pointed out some of the contentious issues right now, hopefully a resolution to avoid a teachers’ strike, the banning of books from school libraries, the use of pronouns.

To what degree do school board trustees have a say in how any of those issues play out locally?

TE: When we move beyond some of those bigger issues around classroom sizes and the funding of public education in this province, to me, the third biggest issue is the autonomy of school boards. We have seen other provinces in our country do away with school boards, and in my mind that is a great threat to the voices of parents and students and families and that voice they should have in their democratically elected trustees.

The thing I would say about the autonomy of school boards is school board trustees need the wiggle room to make policies that make sense for the jurisdictions and the families and the kids and the staff that they represent. I bring that up because of the book banning and some of the policies that we’re seeing around trans athletes. Those are policies where we are seeing interference by the provincial government, at a time when we need to be making sure there is autonomy of school board trustees to make those governance decisions. Decisions which are best for the communities they represent. That is the role of school board trustees.

I would encourage folks to do their research. Ask the question, how are you going to defend public education? How are you going to stand up to a provincial government that seems set and determined to continue to poke and interfere in the role of what school board trustees should be doing at this point in time?

MH: Once voters cast the ballot and someone is elected, what then should voters expect of the trustees?

TE: The trustees that you elect really are there to serve and to set the vision and the direction for Edmonton Public Schools. The other thing you need to know about your school board trustee is one of the key jobs of serving as a trustee is to oversee a budget.

In the case of Edmonton Public, and the large school division down at Calgary Board of Education, for example, that’s over a billion dollars. You need to elect people who have the skills to do the job. Then the third part of the job really is that advocacy role. When you step into the job of serving as a school board trustee, you may serve in one particular area of our city, but really you’re there to represent the entire the entire public, and the entire student and family and community population of Edmonton Public Schools.

The other thing I’d say is there’s lots of us who don’t have kids in school. What I would always say to those folks, when I met them on the doorstep is, they’d say, why should I care, my kids are graduated? Or, I don’t have any kids in school. And I say, don’t you want a well educated public? Don’t we want to ensure, as a society, our teachers and our doctors and lawyers and the people that are testing our water - all these jobs, don’t we want to ensure that they’re well educated? That we’re they’re creating a society where we have well educated citizens. So I do think we all have a role to play to ensuring that we do elect smart people and people who care passionately about public education and kids in our province.

MH: I mean, we’re hearing a lot about this group, “Take back Alberta.” They’ve been quite vocal and I think they’ve even used the term “infiltrating” school boards. When I hear language like that, I think that does give us pause. Folks need to do their research.

If you’re running for the position of an elected school board trustee, I would sure as heck hope that you understand the value of public education and public dollars belong in public education. There’s a larger narrative out there right now, and I do think there’s some distraction issues that are fueling some candidates to step forward, in particular around the book bans or trans policies.

So I would encourage folks to do their homework to make sure that you’re electing folks that truly are going to represent the community at this time.