Reality Check

Ontario Government Should Fund Only One Public School Board

In 1997 the Mike Harris government introduced amalgamated school boards in Ontario, which were heralded to bring about an improved educational system, and one that would be much more cost effective.

  Let’s do a reality check of the educational system in 2010.  Where are these huge savings for the taxpayers that were touted? Despite having declining enrolment across the province taxpayers are still paying more for education, and not one piece of evidence has emerged to show the ‘huge’ savings from amalgamation. So will the Ministry of Education produce a report that shows these alleged savings?  The taxpayers are not aware of any such savings or even if such a report exists.

 

Only One Public Education Board Needed in Ontario

Joe Gunn’s latest column in the Cornwall Standard Freeholder stated that “Ontario remains the only jurisdiction, not only in Canada, but in the entire western world that funds one religious school system(Catholic) to the exclusion of all others.”


I don’t know what Mr. Gunn has been smoking lately but this statement is simply not true.

If he had done his homework, he would have discovered that there are actually 3 other jurisdictions in Canada that have Catholic school boards: namely, Saskatchewan, Alberta and one in Yellowknife, NWT.

Gunn goes on to say that he agreed with the United Nations’ decision to applaud government tax credits to the parents of children who attended private schools in Ontario. However, Catholic students attend fully funded Catholic schools in Ontario, so to award only a tax credit to a private school supporter, is hardly an equitable solution. Regardless, there are no more tax credits.

Today, parents sending their children to private schools are already paying education taxes to the Public/Catholic system, and have to shell out large sums of money to educate their children. It’s like paying twice to educate the same child.

If you have been following the news lately you will know that our educational system is facing huge infrastructure costs to maintain a crumbling system, due in no small part to the Conservative government underfunding of education from 1995-2001. During those years the Harris government undermined and gutted education in this province by extracting $1 Billion, and the Liberals have been left holding the bag.

Upper Canada District School Board Chair, David McDonald is at a loss as to how the Board will make the necessary repairs and upgrades to the buildings. The money just isn’t there.

Gunn suggests that we continue to find ways to fix the system, but we need suggestions. I don’t doubt that the separate school issue has raised its head once again, since the argument for one school board offers us a solution that has huge economic benefits.

As I have mentioned in previous letters to this paper, it is time that we stopped school boards’ empire building in this province, and stop boards from using our tax dollars to compete for students.

We can no longer afford the luxury of 4 school boards. It’s time to start to work together to form one public board- and the word “public” should determine if it will be supported by the taxpayers.

Literacy Testing in Canada: Results are Staggering

In a May 2005 article Can West News Service released some staggering statistics about the literacy skills of Canadians.

“Nearly one half of adults in Canada lack the literacy skills to meet the everyday reading requirements of today’s knowledge based society.”

Fully 42% of Canadians aged 16 to 65 have low-level literacy skills, which are below what is required in our information age. One in seven adults have a problem reading basic printed material.

It appears that literacy scores haven’t changed significantly in the past 10 years. There were small improvements in the lowest literacy scores; however, the aged 16 to 25 group scored lower if the parents had a limited education.

Nancy Jackson, an adult literacy specialist at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education claims there is little consensus about where to target funding for literacy.

In my opinion, no amount of literacy funding can make a significant impact on this huge problem.

The real culprit is the ubiquitous television set, which has taken over most households in Canada. In many houses, there are television sets in every room, complete with DVD players, sophisticated sound systems, and mammoth viewing screens.

The addiction to television began in the 60’s and I would suggest that literacy rates have decreased every since, despite the efforts of school boards and literacy councils.

Watching television has put “reading” on the back burner. The addictive nature of television has created a “dumbed” down population, a passive armchair society, which won’t make the effort to read, when they can laze away the time watching mostly trashy programming.

There is little emphasis on reading today. Even local newspapers publish articles aimed at an eleven-year-old mind in their complexity. Paragraphs are routinely only one or two lines, small amounts of information just like a “sound bite” on a radio or television program.

Ironically, only half of Canadians will be able to read and understand the Can West article of 400 words, so the ones we are trying to help, don’t realize they need the help. They’ll be spread out on their couches watching television in the evenings instead of reading a book or a newspaper.

The adults of today with a literacy deficiency are not able to assist their own children to read, so the problem starts to repeat itself. Without motivation and support, the next generation will find the same fate.

Furthermore, computers are touted as being the panacea for the problems of the information age but ironically, computers are simply adding to the problem. Young people on computers are using the technology to play video games, chat, and send photos- all tasks that can be completed with very few literacy skills. Computers will only be successful in improving reading when they are used under the supervision of a teacher.

As a young boy in the 1950’s before television came into our home, I learned to read by going to the library every week with my parents, and selecting my own books. I became a proficient reader during those years before I entered high school.

When the 60’s arrived I stopped reading and started watching television and doing other things. However, the world of reading was always open to me because I had already developed those skills.

The simple answer to get people to become literate is to turn off the television. Unfortunately, most people don’t want to hear that and it doesn’t look like they’re going to comply.

Actually, the reverse is happening. The cost of new televisions has plummeted, the monster televisions are in vogue, and now people are buying televisions to put in their cars.

That’s the way the corporate elite want things. An illiterate, “dumbed down” population is much easier to control because it doesn’t know what’s going on. Television screens are everywhere. People just stare at them and stop thinking. They become programmed.

When we all stop thinking we’ve got an even bigger problem. I don’t even want to think about it.

If you have children do them a favour. Keep them away from television.

New Approach in Funding Education Needed in Ontario

Joe Gunn’s latest article on education in the Cornwall Standard Freeholder is filled with bias and misinformation, and I believe needs to be rebutted to set the record straight.

First of all, let’s review what happened to education during the Mike Harris years, from 1995 until 2000. During this time, serious underfunding in education crippled the education system. Moreover, the Tories tried to demonize the teaching profession in this province, with incompetent education ministers like John Snobelen who thought he should create a crisis. The Tories had one goal in mind- to centralize educational decision making in Toronto and to weaken the school boards. Unfortunately, they succeeded.

The school boards play a lesser role in the educational system because the Tories wanted it that way. When they brought in amalgamation in 1997, it had nothing to do with ‘savings and efficiency’ as they claimed. The agenda was about exercising complete control of education from Queen’s Park. Harris’s back room boys even toyed with the idea of eliminating school boards completely.

Since amalgamation, the large school boards are more distant from local taxpayers and have lost their right to tax. I’m surprised that Mr. Gunn has forgotten how our educational system was so seriously compromised in the 90’s under Mike Harris.

It’s clear that in Ontario today that the Liberals are trying to make the best of a bad situation; that is, to restore reasonable funding to education which includes consideration for teachers’ collective agreements .

The Minister of Education has taken a non-confrontational approach in dealing with the teachers’ unions, something that Conservatives can’t seem to understand. They would rather give huge tax cuts to corporations, as Mike Harris did, and try to turn the taxpayers against educators, which Harris also tried but failed to do.

Moreover, to demean teachers and the contribution that they make didn’t work under the Tory government, because the vast majority of people realize the importance of education in a society. Young, university graduates with potential are not going to enter a profession where they are not given recognition for their contributions. If, what they see are regimentation and criticism, they’ll take their qualifications elsewhere and the field of education will lose good teachers.

Lastly, I’m amazed that after so many years as a trustee and as a self proclaimed ‘expert’ in education, that Mr. Gunn has such a poor understanding of the work of a classroom teacher. To seriously suggest that a teacher shouldn’t require preparation time is like saying that a lawyer needn’t prepare for a case, or that a pilot shouldn’t have to file a flight plan. I would suggest that Mr. Gunn spend a couple of days to job shadow a teacher and really find out what goes on in a classroom.

I suggest that if we are serious about reducing educational spending and retaining the integrity of our public system, then we have to be willing to eliminate the expense of maintaining 4 school boards with the public purse.

The province of Ontario needs to re –think its funding of public education and look at the examples set by 9 other provinces in Canada that fund only one public school board. By investing in one public education system, we can work together to make it strong and vibrant, and save millions of tax dollars at the same time.

With municipal tax increases of 15-20% on the horizon, crumbling infrastructure, a needy health care system and a new underclass in society, the working poor, we can no longer afford the luxury of four(4) publicly funded school boards.

I would suggest that we ‘forego’ choice and reinstate efficiency and competence in one public education system for all.

Ontario Government Takes Step to Weaken Public Education

In a press release in January, 2005 the “Children First” trust program announced that funding in the amount of $1.2 million would assist children who attend private schools in 2005-2006. Three hundred and fifty(350) students, chosen by lottery, will be awarded up to $3500. each to attend a private elementary school of their choice in Ontario.

This program is a trial balloon launched by the provincial Liberals and is a warning for what may happen next. If subsidized parents start raving about this educational experience, private education may become “in vogue.” Watch what will happen in the follow up years. A precedent will have been set to award funds through this government cloaked body(Fraser Institute) to children attending private schools. In the name of "choice" the government is diluting public education by subsidizing private, often religious schools.

Just as the Conservatives before them, the Liberals would like to divorce themselves from the funding of public education, and allow privatization to set in. This is precisely the purpose of the Fraser Institute. It cares not about the quality of public education; it cares more about who pays for education, and how government can escape its responsibility to pay.

This is nothing new. Corporations have been dying to get their teeth into education for years, but could never get a foothold. Well, they’ve got a foothold now.

Every time a student opts out of the public system, and attends a private school, the system is weakened because of reduced funding. If the subsidies for private school continue in future years, or worse, are increased, the public system will be in further jeopardy.

I have already spoken out about Catholic subsidized education in another article on this Weblog, and a practice that I feel is inherently wrong. This is another example of duplicating educational services, whereby the Catholic Board operates like a private club, collecting public tax dollars, but then accepting only the teachers and students whom it wishes to accept, and then "Catholicizing" its courses. It's a joke. More than that, it's fraudulent and self serving. Nobody seems willing to discuss this fundamental educational issue.

Government is in the business of providing essential services such as a quality education to all, regardless of their race, religion, or socioeconomic status. If the government deviates from that principle, then ultimately the poor will be left in a crumbling and underfunded educational system, and the favoured elite will get a private education.

Look at the United States for a perfect example. In Ontario we need to speak up and defend public education in Ontario. An educational trustee, Millie Craig, of the Upper Canada District School Board in Brockville, has appealed to her colleagues to discuss the ramifications of this assault on public education.

Now is the right time to speak up and be heard.

Public Education in Ontario Means One School Board

A article in the Ottawa Citizen last year pointed to the decline in church congregations in Canada over the past thirty years. The Catholic Church, the article explained, has witnessed the biggest decline of all of the religions. The country has only 8,641 priests, 50% of the number it had in the 1960’s. Locally, we have felt this impact as several Catholic churches have been forced to close their doors.

Given this trend there appears to be a few questions concerning the government’s funding of Catholic School Boards in Ontario. If, in fact, we are seeing huge declines in the number of practicing Catholics since the 60’s, why are we seeing the proliferation of Catholic high schools in Ontario today?

If there had been a huge increase in the number of practicing Catholics, that would  be one thing. If Catholic churches were springing up everywhere around the province, then I could understand that there would be a growing need for more Catholic schools. But that just isn’t the case. 

If we examine the following three questions, their answers might shed some light on the situation.

I. At the high school level the Catholic boards are building spanking new, state-of-the-art schools across Ontario, which easily outclass the crumbling, public schools. Are students switching from the public boards to the Catholic boards simply to enjoy the amenities of these new buildings?

2. Have students switched from public to Catholic high schools since 1981 because of the religious values which are encouraged at the latter, keeping in mind that enrolment in the Catholic churches is undergoing an historic decline?  Are the Catholic schools trying to compensate for the shrinking church congregations?

3. Can we(as taxpayers) afford the current practice of a Catholic school board competing against a public board, both of which are using public funds to pay for advertising and promotion to attract students?  Remember, all of the money comes from the same taxpayers!

The Ontario taxpayer is currently paying for four(4) school boards: English Public, English Catholic, French Public and French Catholic.

Quite simply, I believe we can no longer afford this kind of duplication in education.

All taxpayers in Ontario, regardless of their religion or language, are contributing to the Catholic boards. I don’t know if Ontario taxpayers realize it, but there is no public funding for Catholic education in the following provinces: British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.

In these provinces students are entitled to receive a public education in French or English, but religious education is not publicly funded. Moreover, why should non-Catholic taxpayers be expected to fund Catholic schools?

So, do we have such a surplus of tax dollars,  that we can afford to pay for the costs of 4 school boards? The answer should be obvious. What we need is one public school board which offers programming in French and English. 

The province of Ontario needs to re –think its funding of public education and look at the examples of the other provinces that I mentioned. By investing in one public education system, we can work together to make it strong and vibrant, and save millions of tax dollars at the same time. We could apply those millions in savings towards the provision of other government services, like health care.

It’s time to change our thinking and our approach. What we did yesterday doesn’t apply today.

We must debate the tough issues. We simply can’t afford to fund 4 school boards in this province and remain fiscally responsible.

We need some creative solutions in managing our educational and health tax dollars. Empire building is not one of them.