What Really Hurts Kids?

January 14, 2020

In a tweet from our Education Minister Stephen Lecce on January 10th tweet, he made the odd choice of using a stock photo of a rundown looking classroom possibly from Brazil instead of using an actual photo from an Ontario classroom:

Such an unusual choice of photos, since we have collected so many actual photos of poorly maintained classrooms right here in Ontario! To see some of these photos, click here. 

In the same tweet, Lecce asked people to retweet if they agreed that “#strikeshurtskids”. As a parent-led, non-partisan campaign focused on ensuring all Ontario’s publicly funded schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings, we felt compelled to share the following.

While we certainly feel that strikes hurt kids, we believe that what hurts kids far more is the chronic and gross provincial underfunding of our education system and schools that has gone on in Ontario for over two decades.

When we began our campaign in 2014, annual provincial funding for school repairs was a mere $150-million, even though industry standards suggest the bare minimum required was $1.4-billion. Yes – our provincial government provided ONE-TENTH of what was needed to keep our children’s school buildings safe, healthy and well-maintained. While provincial funding has drastically increased since 2014 and now sits at the recommended $1.4-billion/year, this new level of funding has done little to address the massive pit of disrepair that accumulated over the two decades when provincial funding was grossly and chronically inadequate.

In fact, in October 2017, when the provincial government last released disrepair data, overall disrepair sat at $15.9-billion and this past fall, we learned that the total disrepair in Ontario’s schools has actually grown to $16.3-billion. It is worth noting that the the Mike Harris PC government bequeathed $5.6-billion of disrepair in Ontario’s schools to the Liberals, who then allowed this number to triple to $15.9-billion in October 2017. So the tradition of chronic and gross provincial underfunding for education and schools is a long one in this province – and one that we believe hurts kids far more than rotating strikes and, if we can be so bold, might just be the underlying root cause of these rotating strikes.

In the same January 10th tweet, Minister Lecce states that “Unions should not prevent student learning”.  As a parent-led, non-partisan campaign focused on public schools as critical infrastructure, we would emphasize that poor learning conditions prevent student learning and that there are also many other consequences of poor school conditions.

 

In fact, as per a report entitled, “Healthy School Environment and Enhanced Educational Performance” by Dr. Michael Berry, there is evidence to suggest that when a school building is in disrepair, teaching and student achievement suffers. Conversely, Berry proposes that there is evidence to suggest that “environmental conditions that create a sense of ‘well-being’ and send a ‘caring message’ contribute directly to positive attitudes and elevated performance as measured by fewer health complaints, improved student attendance, teacher retention, and higher test scores.” 

So Minister Lecce, could you explain how the tradition of Ontario’s provincial government chronically and grossly underfunding our publicly funded schools helps student learning?