MONTREAL -- Quebec's Superior Court on began hearing the legal challenge to Bill 40 on school governance on Wednesday. The bill abolished school boards and replaced them with service centres, giving more power to parents' committees in school service centres. However, school boards were maintained for English speakers as they battle the bill in court. The English school boards are arguing the bill is unconstitutional, because minority groups in Canada have the right to manage their own institutions, guaranteed by section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. "English school boards have the independence and autonomy to challenge certain government decisions, to push back when we believe those decisions are not completely appropriate for our network," said Russell Copeman of the Quebec English Language School Boards Association.