Monthly Archives: December 2019

2019: The Good, The Bad and The Confusing

December 31, 2019

‘Tis the season for reflecting on the year that is now drawing to a close. In that spirit, we’ve been considering how our provincial government has done in 2019 relative to achieving the vision of the Fix Our Schools campaign. Namely, what has our provincial government been doing in 2019 that would ensure that all of Ontario’s publicly funded schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning?

The Good 

  • Doug Ford’s first provincial budget maintained the $1.4-billion/year funding for school repairs and renewal via SCI and SRA funding.  As per industry standards and Ontario’s Auditor-General, the absolute minimum yearly funding to keep Ontario’s schools in a state of good repair is $1.4-billion. With $16.3-billion of disrepair assessed, Ontario’s schools are clearly not in a state of good repair. So, while Fix Our Schools was pleased to see the Ford government maintain the $1.4-billion/year funding level, we continue to advocate for the additional funding required to quickly eliminate the $16.3-billion of disrepair in Ontario’s schools.

The Bad

 

  • Despite the fact that 58 MPPs in this province signed the Fix Our Schools Pledge during the provincial election, committing to developing a standard of good repair for our schools and to allocating the required funding to achieve these standards, we’ve heard nothing about this topic even being considered as yet. School conditions are important. Research clearly demonstrates that they impact student learning, achievement, health and attendance. With $16.3-billion of disrepair, Ontario’s schools are not providing appropriate learning conditions for many students. Without a standard in place, this will not change. Ontario’s students deserve better and we must work towards developing and implementing a standard of good repair for our publicly funded schools.

The Confusing

  • Education Minister Lecce’s numbers don’t add up. This July press release indicates that the provincial government is investing $13-billion in capital grants for schools and that this funding will build new schools and help existing schools replace aging heating or air conditioning systems, repair roofs and windows, and install important accessibility features like elevators and ramps. However, $13-billion over 10 years – even if this investment was only for repairs and renewal – is a cut of $1-billion in SCI and SRA funding over 10 years. However, Doug Ford’s tweet in August seems to indicate that this goverment is going to commit $13-billion to building new schools in the coming 10 years and, on top of that, will commit to $1.4-billion/year for repairs and renewal. We’re confused!

 

Minister Lecce’s Numbers Don’t Add Up

December 17, 2019

Fix Our Schools co-founder Krista Wylie was interviewed by Press Progress this week about the inconsistent numbers being used by Education Minister Stephen Lecce, when it comes to his government’s commitment to funding school repairs, renewal and builds.

 

The following article, entitled “Questions Remain About the Ford Government’s School Repair Funding” raises some concerning disconnects on the figures being bandied about by Minister Lecce and Premier Ford about their funding commitment to ensuring Ontario’s publicly funded schools are safe, healthy and well-maintained.

Questions Remain About the Ford Government’s School Repair Funding

While the Ford government continued the previous government’s school repair and renewal funding for the 2019-20 year, its 10-year pledge is lower than previous ones and less than what’s needed to address disrepair in Ontario’s school system, critics say.

Facing resistance from parents and educators over plans to raise class sizes and cut education funding, the Ford government frequently cites school capital funding as proof it’s “committed” to education.

Last week, for example, Education Minister Stephen Lecce told the legislature:

The Premier has demonstrated a firm commitment to improving education by putting more money in the system than ever before. He’s committed to that, because we’ve doubled the mental health envelope in this province. We’ve invested more to improve schools—a $550-million renewal to build new schools and improve existing schools.

And, on Nov. 7 the minister said:

It is this government that is investing over $13 billion over the next decade to improve schools

But, the minister also said on Nov. 7:

What I also made clear is that we’re maintaining a $1.4-billion allocation to maintain our schools. After 15 years of dereliction of duty, where we had a multi-billion-dollar backlog that we inherited, we must do more to improve our schools.

The government’s pledges have been uneven.

For example, if the government were to continue spending $1.4 billion per year, as it did in 2019-20, on “funding to support the repair and renewal of school facilities,” it would seemingly come to a ten-year total of $14 billion — not $13 billion.

Krista Wylie, Fix Our Schools Campaign Co-Founder, told PressProgress that also falls short of the previous government’s commitment of $16 billion, over ten years, to renewals, repairs and new builds. “The $13 billion target is a $3 billion cut from what the Liberals promised. And even if you don’t include new school building in that $16 billion amount, it is still less than $1.4 billion per year.”

Wylie said, further, “the representatives of the government we spoke to were not able to give us a good explanation for that. Their finance and accounting folks said they could not say more than $13 billion — because that’s all there was allocated.”

Economist Hugh Mackenzie told PressProgress “It is a cut relative to the previous plan. And that, in turn, falls far short of what would be needed to address the school condition problem.”

The current backlog for school repairs reportedly sits around $16.3 billion. Mackenzie said “ongoing depreciation means that renewal expenditures equal to between 2% and 4% of the value of the buildings will be required annually. And those expenditures will be required, even if the current maintenance backlog were somehow eliminated. ”

On Nov. 6, Lecce told the legislature the government has committed to a “2.5% allocation when it comes to renewal.”

Asked by PressProgress if the government is committed to maintaining its current $1.4 billion annual investment, or the previous government’s $16 billion commitment, or the $16.3 billion estimated repair backlog, the ministry of education did not respond.

‘Tis the Season for Holiday Concerts… Have a Look Around Your Child’s School

December 12, 2019

With the holiday season upon us, many parents across Ontario will be invited to attend holiday concerts in their children’s schools. We encourage you to take a look around that school building and send us photos of what you see! The good, the bad and the ugly. We’d love to see it all.

With $16.3-billion of disrepair in Ontario’s publicly funded schools, we know there are many examples of school buildings in poor condition that provide substandard learning environments for students. As parents, we do not often have the occasion to spend time in our children’s school buildings but one parent, who volunteers as a STEM Coach in her local public school has taken these photos of disrepair:

 

On the flip side, we also know that there are wonderful examples of new and old school buildings in this province that are in great shape and offer excellent learning environments for our children, like the ones below:

 

So please, as you visit your local public school this holiday season, take a quick photo and send it to us at info@fixourschools.ca.

 

 

Halton Region Calls Upon Ontario’s Ministry of Education to Remove Lead Pipes from Schools

December 10, 2019

In a December 6, 2019 article in the Toronto Star entitled, “Tainted water revelations spark calls for action across Canada“, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton was cited as one of 24 Halton Region Councillors who voted unanimously in favour of a resolution calling on Ontario’s Ministry of Education to remove lead pipes from the region’s schools.

 

After concerning findings of a national tainted water investigation, many jurisdictions across the country are calling for action, including demands for replacement of lead pipes running to homes and schools, replacement of lead fixtures in public buildings, better testing and increased transparency on results of lead testing. Experts agree there is no safe level of lead in water.

Oakville Mayor Burton’s concerns about lead in water in schools stem from findings that more than 2,400 schools and daycares in Ontario exceeded the federal guidelines for lead in water over the past two years, with some tests showing lead levels more than 200 times more than the federal safety standard. Burton said, “Since education has been starved for a long-time, I appreciate they weren’t rolling in money to go after the problem. It’s a provincial responsibility so we thought we would call on the Ministry of Education to get the lead out.”

Halton Region politicians also wrote a letter to Education Minister Stephen Lecce, asking for swift action to resolve lead in water in Ontario’s publicly funded schools. Mayor Burton said that if the provincial government fails to take action, that would be “an abdication of the province’s responsibility for schools“. Burton went on to say, “we just want the government to do its job, and I think anybody thinks the job of the ministry is to teach kids and keep them safe while they do it.”

 

 

John Tory Willing to Take the Road Less Travelled

December 5, 2019

On December 4, 2019, Mayor of Toronto John Tory took a bold stand for a politician these days in supporting a plan to extend and increase a property tax levy called the city building fund, which would go towards public transit repairs and more affordable housing.

In a CBC Metro Morning interview with Matt Galloway on December 5, 2019, Tory defended this bold move, saying that Toronto could not afford to NOT find funding for these integral parts of the city’s infrastructure. Fix Our Schools believes the same could be said about pubicly funded schools and education. Ontario cannot afford to NOT find proper funding for this integral part of our society and for the crumbling buildings where Ontario children spend their days trying to learn.

 

A property tax levy, such as the one being proposed by Toronto City Council, is one of the few revenue tools available to municipal governments. However, our provincial and federal governments have a much larger toolbox for adding revenue to public coffers, and must start looking at how corporate taxes ought to contribute more in tax dollars to the society from which they benefit. It is time to acknowledge that the public goods we say we want require proper government funding and simply cannot be sustained through “finding efficiencies”.

Tax is not a four-letter word. Really. It’s not. Thank you to John Tory for taking the road less travelled and acknowledging that all levels of governments must dig into their tool boxes to find the appropriate funding sources to ensure that critical public goods like our publicly funded education system continue to be strong. Recent research shows that 90% of Ontarians support investing in school infrastructure and that Ontarians are twice as likely to say spending money on public education is more important than eliminating the deficit.  

 

The Time to Invest in Publicly Funded Education is Now

December 3, 2019

Last week, the Ontario Public School Board Association (OPSBA) and Nanos Research released polling data regarding many public education issues. This data confirmed that Ontarians view money spent on publicly funded education as an important investment in Ontario’s future and that the provincial government should prioritize education spending over tackling the deficit. Over 90% of Ontarians supported investing in school maintenance and repairs.

Back in August, Premier Ford declared that his government was going to invest $13-billion in building new schools over the coming 10 years; and that his government was going to continue to invest $1.4-billion each year for school repairs.

Recognizing that there are many urgent issues to be addressed in the education sector at the moment, Fix Our Schools urges the Ford government to begin investing in building new schools in Ontario. Back in July 2019, Minister Lecce announced that the provincial government would finally resume the process to approve new school buildings after a year hiatus when zero new school buildings were approved in this province.  We’re still waiting to hear how this process is unfolding and we are still lamenting that this government’s actions allowed over a year to pass with zero investment in new school buildings. 

As Ontarians declared in the recent OPSBA and Nanos research polls, the time to invest in publicly funded education in Ontario is now.