Tag Archives: Ministry of Education

Onwards and Upwards But First …

January 5, 2021

Fix Our Schools was founded in 2014 with the goal of ensuring all of Ontario’s publicly funded schools were safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provided environments conducive to learning and working.  With some notable successes along the way, we continue to work towards this goal as we head into 2021. But first, a necessary reflection on the past year and on how Ontario’s provincial government handled school infrastructure in this unprecedented year.

Ontario’s school buildings began 2020 with at least a $16.3-billion repair backlog. While this number is staggering, it notably does not even include First Nations schools, portables, accessibility retrofits, water quality, air quality, or asbestos abatement.

Throughout a year like no other, Ontario’s school boards continued to be at the mercy of provincial funding and policies. While the Ford government maintained annual funding for school renewal and repairs at $1.4-billion/year, this level of funding has been shown to be grossly inadequate since disrepair in Ontario’s schools has continued to increase every year.

In fact, when the Ford government released its budget in November 2020, political economist Ricardo Tranjan declared it to be “really bad for Ontario education”.

https://twitter.com/ricardo_tranjan/status/1324491092147011584?s=20

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ford government actually shirked its responsibility to provide adequate, stable funding for schools and education when it ‘allowed’ school boards to dip into their own reserve funds to try to fund what was actually needed to ensure schools were safe, healthy environments.

Throughout 2020, the Ford government continued to drag its heels on new school builds and expansions across the province, leaving us almost 2 years behind in this process. 

When schools were shuttered in late March 2020 and left empty for months, the Ford government missed the opportunity to invest in school repairs and improvements, such as accessibility retrofits, that could have been done much more safely without students in these buildings. Even for repair and renewal projects that were particularly relevant amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, such as those focused on improving ventilation in schools, the Ford government dragged its heels in allocating any funding to school boards to take action on improvements. 

At the same time that Ontario’s provincial government was unable to take the necessary action to invest in school infrastructure that would provide safe, healthy environments for learning and working, especially amidst a pandemic, our federal government was doing very little to ensure First Nations schools were safe. Many of Ontario’s First Nations schools still do not even have clean drinking water, let alone the type of infrastructure that would be safe and healthy during a pandemic.

https://twitter.com/cbcreporter/status/1298973279923793920?s=20https://twitter.com/cbcreporter/status/1298973279923793920?s=20

The Ford government also failed to make needed changes to an outdated regulation guiding the eligibility for and use of Education Development Charges, so developers continued to get away without contributing to school infrastructure, from which they profit.

Our provincial government chose to ignore an opportunity to fund any outdoor education plans, which could have been a helpful component of a safe return to school in September. 

And, since taking office in June 2018, the Ford government has refused to publish updated disrepair data for Ontario’s 5,000 schools. This data is collected with taxpayer dollars, and citizens deserve transparency into the state of school buildings. 

Looking back on 2020, we realize a “silver lining” of the global pandemic relative to schools is that substantively more attention has been paid to the condition of school buildings. Ventilation, drinking water, and air quality may not be sexy topics, but Canadians now appreciate their importance. Media coverage of the state of school buildings was intense in 2020. With the ardent support of Fix Our School followers, we helped to keep a full conversation about safe, well-maintained schools in the press.

With your ongoing support, we intend to continue our work towards ensuring Ontario schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings for all students and teachers. Onwards and upwards to 2021.

Fix Our Schools Submission to the Ministry of Education

June 14, 2020

On June 11, 2020, Fix Our Schools sent the following to the Ministry of Education, in response to their request for public input to Ontario’s plan to reopen schools.

Fix Our Schools is pleased to provide the following input to the Ministry of Education, and respectfully asks that the provincial government:

1.Prioritize publicly funded education and a safe, effective re-opening of schools in September as an integral component of re-opening our economy

Despite the fact that restarting schools is an essential driver for Ontario’s economy, the general public is hearing very little about what the provincial government and school boards are doing towards planning for September. At the same time, we are hearing quite a lot about golf courses, restaurants, hair salons, and other businesses. Students, families, communities, and our economy would all greatly benefit from a clear prioritization of publicly funded education and schools by your government.

In fact, in the June 5 edition of a Public Health Ontario document providing a collation of COVID-19 resources (https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/ncov/ncov-daily-lit.pdf?la=en), we were disappointed to see that schools were not even allocated their own line item. Furthermore, almost all the resources cited under the heading “Schools, Childcare & Businesses” were pertaining to businesses – not schools or childcares. 

2. Commit to providing the necessary funding for school boards to be able to reasonably plan and implement a safe, effective re-opening of schools in September.

Local school boards, with guidance from local public health officials, will ultimately be charged with re-opening Ontario’s schools for September. They need to start planning as soon as possible, and they need the certainty of adequate provincial funding – something that has been lacking for decades.

However, the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that, with political will, previously unimaginable public resources can be found and allocated. Now is the time for this same level of political will to be applied to our publicly funded schools and education system. Ontario’s 2-million students need to know that the adults in charge are committed to their education, their mental health, and their development. Our economy also demands a prioritization of public education and schools.

In this time of uncertainty, flexibility of provincial funding is also key. As new information is integrated into plans for school re-openings, the province must be committed to providing the necessary resources, and respond quickly to funding needs in the education system as this situation unfolds.

3. Work with local school boards and public health officials to provide weekly updates to the public on the school re-opening planning/implementation process.

“Bonnie Henry believes that if you tell people what you are doing and why – if you provide transparent decision-making with real reasons behind it – people will follow. Of course, you have to make the right decisions, too.” (https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2020/06/05/i-felt-the-weight-of-the-world-says-bc-health-officer-bonnie-henry-but-she-got-everything-right.html)

Effective, timely communication is paramount. Transparent and regular communication to the public about plans and possible models for publicly funded education and schools in September must start as soon as possible, and ought to be weekly at a set time and day. This approach will convey that publicly funded education and schools are, in fact, the priority that they must be in order for our economy to re-open.

4.Develop a commonly understood definition of “safe, effective return to school”.

School boards, public health officials, parents, students, teachers, principals, and education workers are all key stakeholders in the re-opening of schools. These key stakeholders must engage in regular dialogue to develop a common, shared understanding of what constitutes a “safe, effective return to school”. This common understanding will help build public confidence in school safety.

Thanks for the opportunity to provide input to such a critical step in moving forward in Ontario.

Fix Our Schools’ Submission to the Pre-budget Consultation

January 28, 2020

As part of the provincial budget planning process, the Committee of Finance and Economic Affairs runs consultations across the province to listen to presentations from various interested parties. Fix Our Schools was selected to present on Friday, January 17, 2020 when the Committee was sitting at Queen’s Park in Toronto.

In addition, each Ministry seeks funding feedback from relevant parties. The Ministry of Education sent out a memorandum on January 13, 2020 seeking education funding feedback from Directors of Education, Senior Business Officials, Secretary/Treasurers of School Authorities and other Education Partners. In this memorandum, the government indicated a “particular interest in receiving comments on initiatives that could support reducing red tape and administrative burden for the education sector.” The province also underscored its commitment “to supporting students, so they can reach their full potential and succeed in school, life and beyond.”

Fix Our Schools took advantage of the opportunity to submit its feedback directly to the Ministry of Education in order to echo what we had presented to the Committee of Finance and Economic Affairs earlier in the month.

The complex reality of some “empty” TDSB schools

January 29, 2015

Here’s the complex reality of some TDSB schools cited as “empty” by the Province:

  • Lucy McCormick, at 39%, is one of the few accessible schools in the west end, serving children with developmental disabilities
  • Parkdale P.S., at 56%, was nearly full two years ago, utilization rates fluctuating wildly due to Federal immigration policies.
  • Burnhamthorpe Collegiate, at 35%, educates 1,000 adult learners every day, yet this important use as a community hub does not “count” in the 35%
  • King George P.S., at 89%, operated at 59% in 2009 but Provincial policies impacted attendance and this school is now projected to be at 134% by 2019

Kathleen Wynne’s government must stop citing simple numbers that do not reflect the complex reality they represent. Instead, please start working with the TDSB to address the massive challenges facing Canada’s largest school board.

Students have been impacted for years!

January 18, 2015

Some classrooms in the TDSB registered 15 degrees celsius last week (to give you context, Toronto by-laws demand a minimum of 21 degrees celsius for tenants!). The state of many TDSB schools is appalling: cold classrooms; leaking roofs; washrooms with no doors or working locks; and no soap in washrooms are all pretty standard fare across TDSB schools. However, Minister of Education Liz Sandals claims that the dysfunction of the TDSB has not yet impacted students. From Fix Our Schools’ perspective, it has been impacting students and their teachers for years! The $3.5 Billion of outstanding repairs and maintenance that the TDSB has been allowed to accumulate under the watchful eye of this Provincial government impacts the safety, success and well-being of our children every single day.

Fix Our Schools applauds Margaret Wilson’s work and was pleased to see the Province take strong action in directing the TDSB to implement all of Ms. Wilson’s recommendations in short order. We are optimistic that Margaret Wilson’s report and Minister Sandals’ directions are the first step towards the Province providing meaningful, long-term intervention to ensure the safety, success and well-being of our children. Ms. Wilson’s report states that the culture of fear referred to in the 2103 Ernst and Young Audit is even more pervasive now, demonstrating that short-term interventions by the Province have done nothing to improve the situation at the TDSB.

The fact that Minister Sandals does not see how students have already been impacted is extremely worrisome and may indicate that Margaret Wilson’s mandate was too narrow. Ms. Wilson’s report provides great insight into the top-down view of the TDSB but does not include a view of the situation from the ground-up – from a student’s perspective.

Schools as community hubs?

October 31, 2014

The Ministry of Education’s mandate letter for the next four years includes developing a community hubs policy – a noble concept that would see empty public schools used creatively to benefit a community in alternate ways.

Mandate Letter from Premier Kathleen Wynne to Minister of Education Liz Sandals

However, in pursuit of short-term efficiencies, schools in rural areas of Ontario and urban centres are being forced to close.  50 mayors across Ontario have banded together to lobby the Provincial government to reconsider school closures in favour of transforming school buildings into true community hubs.

Ontario Mayors Fight to Keep Schools Open

A transformation of this kind will require both patience and co-operation between the Provincial Government, School Boards, and Municipalities.  Not an easy task but one that seems worth pursuing.

What has Fix Our Schools done so far?

October 29, 2014

As a starting point to this blog, we want to bring you up to speed on what Fix Our Schools has been doing. So far, a lot of our campaign has been informed by our experience with local schools here in Ward 7 (near High Park).  We hope that this will change as we connect with other TDSB parents from across the city!

1) We’ve been writing letters to both the TDSB and the Ministry of Education.   Here are the latest letters sent to each:

Letter_to the Ministry of Education

Letter to the TDSB

2) We’ve contacted media, that has resulted in the following media exposure:

TDSB wants development funding for overcapacity schools and $3.5 Billion in outstanding repairs

Fix Our Schools calls upon mayoral candidates to work with TDSB

Fix Our Schools echo TDSB Trustees’ plea to Province to reconsider how development money is accessed and used by school boards

3) We’ve worked hard to get education issues on the agenda during the municipal election by hosting a local Ward 7 Trustee debate; answering media questions about the Trustee races across the city; and sending the following letters to Mayoral candidates and City Councillor candidates:

Letter to Mayoral Candidates

Letter to City Councillor Candidates