REGINA - The Ministry of Education's processes to oversee independent schools was a focus on an audit from the Provincial Auditor’s office.
Those were just some of the findings released Tuesday as part of the Provincial Auditor’s 2025 Report - Volume One.
Her findings pointed to the ministry not analyzing or reporting on key indicators of student achievement, such as credit attainment, graduation rates, and whether students are underperforming.
In her remarks Tuesday, provincial auditor Tara Clemett noted the Ministry of Education is entrusted with ensuring all students in Saskatchewan have access to proper education and schools delivering education adhere to established standards.
“Given that an independent school is owned and operated by a person or an organization other than a public authority or government, operational requirements may be more or less stringent or inconsistent with a school operated by a school division,” Clemett said. She pointed to the Ministry of Education being responsible for oversight of 54 independent schools in Saskatchewan instructing over 5,400 students, and providing $31 million to some of these independent schools in 2024-25.
On this topic, Clemett made a number of recommendations. One is for the Ministry to analyze and report on key indicators of student achievement. “For example, it collects data on student reading levels at independent schools, but it does not analyze it. Also, the Ministry does not look at credit attainment or graduation rates for students at independent schools.”
Clemett noted they found 14 religiously-based registered schools are not required to employ certified teachers. “If the Ministry allows uncertified teachers at certain independent schools, then it must have a mechanism to determine whether these students are underperforming academically and whether it needs to provide additional supports, such as training to teachers.”
“Analyzing student achievement at independent schools would allow the Ministry to identify which independent schools appear to be riskier than others in providing quality education and take appropriate action.”
The audit also found the education ministry did not consider student achievement as part of its risk assessment process that it has in place.
“The Ministry uses risk-based plans for inspecting independent schools,” said Clemett. “Three superintendents inspect the independent schools to assess the educational facilities, school administration, and instructional practices to determine risk ratings. Higher risk ratings means more frequent inspections.
“We found the Ministry did not consider student achievement as part of its risk assessments and had not completed risk assessments for eight independent schools. This means some schools may be at a higher risk level than currently rated. Incomplete assessments increases the risk that the Ministry is not inspecting schools, presenting higher risks to educational quality, student safety, and regulatory compliance frequently enough and deficiencies go unaddressed.”
Clemett also noted that if a superintendent finds an independent school to be non-compliant with Ministry requirements or legislation, they issue a letter of non-compliance to the school. But she said, they found the Ministry does not centrally track these non-compliance letters.
She recommended the Ministry centrally compile notices of identified non-compliance for all independent schools to improve its tracking and analysis
“Doing so would allow the Ministry to identify trends and make sure it responds to outstanding compliance matters quickly.”
In their response, the opposition NDP were concerned and made it known they wanted answers from Education Minister Everett Hindley on criteria to be an instructor in registered schools.
"The minister is in charge and responsible for the outcomes for all students in our province," said Associate Education critic Joan Pratchler. "This notion of having eight instructors out of 12 that were reviewed not to have finished grade 12 -- that's something the Minister has to come up with. So what kind of oversight are they going to provide for instructors in these schools...
"If you want to have good education and good outcomes you have to have good inputs. That's what he has to address."
In a statement, the Government of Saskatchewan had this response to the Auditor’s report findings.
“We would like to thank the Provincial Auditor for her work in developing these recommendations. The Ministry of Education is pleased that the Auditor found that there were effective processes with respect to the oversight in independent schools. Much of the progress on these recommendations are already well underway with the majority of them expected to be implemented this summer.
“All schools that receive funding in Saskatchewan are required to follow Saskatchewan curriculum and funded independent schools must employ only those teachers who hold a valid Professional 'A' Teacher's Certificate.”
