On Monday, November 25, 2019, the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) and Nanos Research released polling data regarding several public education issues ranging from student achievement and well-being to curriculum, funding, and governance.
Fix Our Schools was thrilled to see that the majority of Ontarians agree that spending in public education is an investment in the future and that they are twice as likely to say that spending on public education is more important than eliminating the deficit. Hurrah! We wholeheartedly agree with the majority of Ontarians! In fact, back in April 2019, Fix Our Schools explored how government deficits and debt may not be as scary as many believe. And in June 2019, Fix Our Schools continued to explore this idea in the blog post entitled, “The High Cost of Low Corporate Taxes”. We were equally thrilled to see that 90% of Ontarians supported investing in school maintenance and repairs.
The research results released today also found that:
- Nearly two-thirds of Ontarians think funding for education should be set based on number of students and inflation rather than overall provincial spending
- Just over four in five Ontarians support or somewhat support school boards having more autonomy to ensure their budgets reflect local needs
- Nine in ten Ontarians say it is important or somewhat important to invest in school maintenance and repairs
“These results validate the hard work and dedication of public school boards and our Association,” said Cathy Abraham, President of OPSBA. “Education is the second largest funding line in the provincial budget and it is our hope that these results can help inform decisions to ensure public education is supported by stable and predictable funding. Public education is an investment for the future and we must advocate for those conditions that will help all students succeed.”
We’ve only highlighted the findings that directly relate to Fixing Ontario’s Schools and we encourage people to read the whole research report to confirm how much support for publicly funded education exists in Ontario.