The As­so­ci­a­tion of De­nom­i­na­tion­al Boards of Ed­u­ca­tion (ADBE) says the Teach­ing Ser­vice Com­mis­sion is threat­en­ing par­ents’ con­sti­tu­tion­al right to choose a re­li­gious ed­u­ca­tion for their chil­dren, as ten­sions es­ca­late over how teacher va­can­cies in gov­ern­ment-as­sist­ed pri­ma­ry schools are be­ing filled.

The ADBE has pushed back against a re­cent state­ment by the com­mis­sion, which sought to clar­i­fy that there is no short­age of qual­i­fied teach­ers and that pri­or­i­ty lists re­main avail­able to fill va­can­cies across the pri­ma­ry school sys­tem. But the ADBE has dis­missed that po­si­tion, ar­gu­ing it mis­rep­re­sents the le­gal and con­sti­tu­tion­al frame­work gov­ern­ing de­nom­i­na­tion­al ed­u­ca­tion and ig­nores the role of re­li­gious bod­ies in main­tain­ing the char­ac­ter of their schools.

The as­so­ci­a­tion said the is­sue goes be­yond staffing ad­min­is­tra­tion and touch­es on con­sti­tu­tion­al­ly pro­tect­ed rights, in­clud­ing free­dom of con­science and re­li­gion, and the right of par­ents and guardians to choose schools aligned with their be­liefs.