Governance of Public Education in Canada

When I think about governance, I think mostly about politics and it is not a very appealing subject for me but as a teacher, but I need to know where policies are coming from. Also, if we want to get things changed as teachers, we need to know how it is working.
Education is within provincial jurisdiction and the curriculum is overseen by the province. Public education is provided free to all Canadians who meet various age and residence requirements.
In Manitoba, education is governed principally by The Public Schools Act (http://web2.gov.mb.ca/laws/statutes/ccsm/p250e.php) and The Education Administration Act. Rights and responsibilities of the Minister of Education and the rights and responsibilities of school boards, principals, teachers, parents and students are set out by this legislation.
I think it is really important to have an Education Act that everybody in Manitoba can refer too. It is really specific and lays out everything that every school has to go by. I also think it is a good thing that the curriculum, established by the Provincial Government, is on an ongoing change and it can then adapt at any time. It is keeping up to date what students need to learn. I also learned that if a school is funded by the Government (private schools for example), it has to teach the Manitoba curriculum. I think it is fair because students from different schools need a common base. When they leave school after grade 12 and go to Universities for example, it is easier to add on knowledge if we know the bases are there.
Local governance of education is usually entrusted to school boards and school divisions. They are elected officials and represent a political position. If I remember right, School Board is the people in charge of policies manual (how school division will run) and also how money is spent in school. They also hire superintendant and the treasurer/secretary. This represents quite a big responsibility. Like I mentioned before those people are elected, so basically, it could be anybody. It might not be the best people to take decisions on Education. In order to take appropriate decisions, I think those elected people need to know what they are talking about. We need to have educators in that position because they have been teaching in schools before and they know what is going on and where the needs are. Another criterion that needs to be taken into consideration is the community. I think educators who want to be elected on the School Board have to be from the community. Every community is different and has it owns need. Therefore, if the educators are from the community they will be more knowledgeable and concerned about the needs of local schools. The last aspect that needs to be observed is the financial decisions. School boards have huge financial responsibilities. Therefore, elected people need to have a good understanding of finance. So basically what I am saying is that the perfect School Board member will have the right hemisphere of an accountant, the left hemisphere of a teacher, his arms and legs will have to touch base in the community and the last element but not the least, he will need to have the heart of a parent!!! If no such thing is available, maybe we could have a mix of all of those people in the School Board!