Tag Archives: Standards

Education Stakeholders Agree

February 8, 2022

Ontario’s Finance Minister Bethlenfalvy has until March 31st to table a new provincial budget. Accordingly, the Ford government has been running its pre-budget consultation process in recent weeks. However, the approach being used to this pre-budget consultation is different to that of previous governments in this province. The former Liberal government, for instance, held town hall-style consultations that were open to members of the public and to journalists; and ensured that all submissions and presentations were delivered to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs so that all input was on the public record.

In stark contrast, the Ford government’s approach to this consultation seems to lack transparency, and does not include members of the public. According to NDP Finance critic Catherine Fife, “the PC members are promoting these consultations as public consultations, but they are not.” Instead, Michael Parsa, parliamentary assistant to the Finance Minister, has been hosting invite-only “conversations with community members” attended by cabinet ministers, local PC MPPs, CEO’s and finance ministry officials. In lieu of a formal public record, Parsa has been sharing screenshots on social media. 

Apparently, “copious notes” are also taken from the Zoom presentations, but these are not shared as a matter of public record, and all members of the legislature do not appear to receive these notes or have access to pre-budget submissions from all stakeholders. Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner wants all pre-budget submissions to be made available to every member of the legislature, stating that, “We need transparency and collaboration to ensure this year’s budget will adequately address the multiple crises facing all Ontarians”.

Fix Our Schools agrees wholeheartedly with the concerns about the lack of transparency in this pre-budget consultation by the Ford government. Indeed, we believe that an effective and efficient provincial government would embrace: accountability and responsibility; effective and timely communication; authentic stakeholder engagement; and transparency.

As top priorities, Fix Our Schools’ pre-budget submission called on the provincial government to:

As we looked at the input from other education stakeholders, we found that many echoed our calls to action. For instance, the Ontario Catholic Teachers’ Association’s (OECTA) pre-budget submission noted the $16.8-B repair backlog that continues to grow each year in Ontario’s publicly funded schools and called upon the provincial government to “provide immediate, stable, and sufficient annual funding for infrastructure and repairs“. Noting how the COVID pandemic has revealed the criticality of indoor air quality and ventilation to public health, OECTA also called upon the Province to, “act proactively and make the necessary investments to ensure that all schools have ventilation systems that meet the health and safety standards set by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), effectively reducing the airborne spread of COVID-19. To ensure that this process is transparent, the government must also institute a provincial standard for air quality measurements in schools, with publicly available metrics to indicate whether standards are being met.”

Similarly, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) emphasized in their pre-budget submission that students and education workers need safer, healthier, and accessible schools. OSSTF highlighted the $16.8 billion repair backlog in Ontario’s schools and stated that, “the government must address the repair backlog with additional funding by increasing the out-of-date benchmarks for pupil accommodation. The School Operations Grant must be funded to a level that will maintain the good repair of buildings so that Ontario’s backlog stops growing. As well, further funding is necessary to enhance the accessibility of schools to meet the 2025 deadline of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act.”

The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario’s (ETFO) pre-budget submission also included asks on improving school infrastructure, noting how the pandemic has exacerbated concerns and how the provincial government has failed to provide appropriate funding to meet the needs of all students. Noting the massive school repair backlog in Ontario, ETFO’s pre-budget submission stated that “the pandemic has highlighted the poor physical condition of many public schools and the impact physical infrastructure can have on the learning conditions for students and the working conditions for teachers and education workers.” ETFO’s submission also emphasized the need for additional funding to improve ventilation and air quality in schools, the importance of ASHRAE guidelines for minimum ventilation standards, and the need for additional funding to ensure that data is collected on indoor air quality in classrooms and compared against a standard. 

The pre-budget submission by the Ontario School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) stated clearly that “school boards require strong, predictable and equitable education funding in order to set the conditions that promote and sustain improved student achievement and well-being”, and included a designated section on capital and facilities funding. OPSBA suggested that provincial funding for heating, ventilation, and air condition (HVAC) systems was even more critical during the COVID pandemic and asked for more transparency, and increased capital funding benchmarks.

Clearly, other education stakeholders also recognize the need for:

  • adequate, stable provincial funding for schools and education
  • standards and data to ensure those standards are being met
  • a focus on indoor air quality and ventilation in schools

Sadly, with regard to standards for indoor air quality, we noted that the scant “standards” the Ford government had put in place around HEPA filters has been diluted so that the Ministry’s expectation is that HEPA Filters would only be needed in kindergarten classrooms and occupied learning spaces without mechanical ventilation.

This weak “standard” for HEPA filter placement in learning spaces would explain why we have heard from so many across the province without a HEPA filter in their classroom:

And, quite frankly, without any measurement and data collection to understand the actual quality of the indoor air in classrooms, standards are not particularly effective anyways.

We need a provincial government that is committed to standards, data collection to compare against those standards, and adequate, stable provincial funding for Ontario schools. Currently, we do not have such a government. The next provincial election is approaching quickly and with it, comes an opportunity to demand more for Ontario’s 2-million children who spend their days at school.

All Parties Must Prioritize Publicly Funded Schools and Education

November 22, 2021

With a provincial election approaching in June, 2022, Fix Our Schools continues to be a non-partisan, parent-led, Ontario-wide campaign working to ensure that:

1.Every publicly funded school in Ontario is safe, well-maintained, healthy and provides an environment conducive to learning and working; a goal that has taken on increased significance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2. A Standard of Good Repair for Ontario’s publicly funded schools is developed and implemented, which would include transparent metrics for school buildings, portables and schoolyards. These standards and associated metrics must include and address:

    • The $16.8-billion of disrepair in school buildings
    • A program to assess current repair backlogs in portables and schoolyards
    • Air quality and ventilation
    • Classroom temperatures
    • Accessibility
    • Environmental efficiency & durability
    • Job site safety for school construction projects and maintenance work
    • Drinking water
    • Asbestos
    • Cleanliness
    • Classroom space
    • Vermin, mold
    • Fire and electrical code

3. Publicly funded schools receive adequate, stable, equitable provincial funding that enables school boards to meet these provincial standards and publicly demonstrate positive outcomes by collecting and releasing associated metrics at regular intervals.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how critical school buildings and education are to Ontario’s children, their families, and our economy. With this in mind, we provided this input to the Ministry of Education as part of its 2022-23 Education Funding consultation process. Our sincere hope is that the Ford government will accept and act upon our feedback.

In the coming months, we will work to ensure that all political parties in this province prioritize safe, healthy, well-maintained school buildings, portables and schoolyards, and reflect this prioritization by including the following in their education platforms:

  • A Standard of Good Repair and associated metrics for school buildings, portables and schoolyards
  • Adequate, stable, and equitable provincial funding to achieve these standards and to collect and release the associated metrics publicly at regular intervals

Standards, Metrics, and Funding – Oh My!

November 9, 2021

Provincial Funding: What School Boards Rely Upon to Maintain School Infrastructure

Sadly, in the Fall Economic Statement from the Ford government this past week, we learned that base funding for education was being cut by $460-million. Minister Lecce defended his government’s actions, stating that “if you account for everything all other ministries are spending to help schools, the kids and teachers are still ahead.” 

Perhaps this provincial funding cut is a matter of reporting. Perhaps not. The Ford government seems to intentionally create confusion when it releases numbers and data,  and it consistently avoids transparency. Therefore, comparing year over year numbers and data is increasingly challenging, if not downright impossible. Thus, Fix Our Schools is not overly interested in debating the minutiae of this cut to education funding. We are, however, extremely interested in rebutting Minister Lecce’s statement and belief that “if you account for everything all other ministries are spending to help schools, the kids and teachers are still ahead”.

We believe that if the Ford government were to actually engage with education stakeholders, they would learn that the kids and teachers are absolutely not “ahead” by any measure these days. In fact, should our provincial government pursue authentic engagement with its stakeholders, they may even hear that this flippant and vague explanation of a cut to education funding is offensive, and that Ontario students, teachers, and education workers are struggling to catch up from the ongoing pandemic challenges. In the lead-up to a provincial election, Minister Lecce’s disregard and casual dismissal of the real needs of public schools and education is frustrating and, indeed, disturbing.

Fix Our Schools also believes that a complete rethink of provincial funding for schools and education is imperative, and that any new funding approach to school infrastructure must begin with a commitment to providing the funding actually needed to achieve the goals and outcomes we envision for school infrastructure. Additionally, any responsible funding model would also include:

  • Standards of good repair that include not only the outstanding repairs currently collected, but also items such as: portables; ventilation and indoor air quality; drinking water quality; asbestos remediation; accessibility; schoolyards, classroom temperatures; and cleanliness.
  • Metrics that must be collected at given time intervals and compared against the set standards in order to confirm that investments and funding provided are achieving the desired outcomes

Standards & Metrics: During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Moving Forward

Without a set of standards in place for school infrastructure, no metrics are being collected and assessed to confirm that desired outcomes are being achieved. Without a set of standards there is no way to determine if an adequate level of funding is being provided to reasonably be able to achieve these outcomes. In the long-term, we know that school conditions matter. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, good school conditions can reduce absenteeism, improve test scores, and improve teacher retention. It is clear that in the long-term, Ontario absolutely needs a comprehensive set of standards for school infrastructure; and metrics in place to ensure those standards are being met and properly funded. Is this the government to do that?

In the short-term, as we move through this tenuous time towards the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, let’s consider standards and metrics as they relate to ventilation and indoor air quality (IAQ).  Ontario’s science table believes that provincial case counts will remain stable, even as social contacts increase, so long as public health measures such as masking, vaccine certificates, ventilation/filtration and symptom screening remain in place.

While the Ford government has provided funding for school boards to “improve  ventilation”, they have not instituted any standards for what IAQ is required to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to improve health outcomes for students, teachers, and education workers during this pandemic. Furthermore, the Ford government has not provided any direction or funding to school boards to collect metrics on ventilation and IAQ, so we have no sense of whether the investments that school boards have made in ventilation improvements have yielded desired outcomes. This is simply fiscally irresponsible.

In the short-term, standards, metrics and ongoing funding are urgently needed for ventilation and indoor air quality in Ontario’s schools. And, in the longer-term, standards for all facets of school infrastructure, metrics to assess these standards, and adequate, stable provincial funding to ensure meeting these standards is possible are all absolute imperatives for Ontario’s schools.

A Professional Perspective on Data and Measuring Outcomes

August 26, 2021

Today, we are grateful to have Stanton Wong, President of RESET (www.reset.build/) share his professional views on the criticality of using data to inform good decision-making, and the importance of measuring outcomes to gauge success. As we head towards a return to in-person learning in Ontario this September, this seems a good reminder. We absolutely must apply data to inform a safe return to school, and we absolutely must measure outcomes to gauge success.  

COVID-19 has certainly highlighted that if we do not have the knowledge and the supporting data, good decision-making is difficult. COVID-19 has also highlighted that when resources are limited, they must be used as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Speaking of ensuring we use our limited resources effectively and efficiently, by now, we should know that the coronavirus is airborne, so we could redirect some resources away from disinfecting everything to instead focus on decreasing the potential of airborne transmission. 

One way to decrease airborne transmission is to ensure indoor air quality is optimized, which requires measuring. Given that indoor air quality is constantly fluctuating due to things such as airflow and number of people in a room at any given time, the prospect of measuring air quality effectively can seem daunting. However, there are solutions available and companies that offer standards for data collection in buildings, monitoring devices for continuous measurement, and expertise for understanding indoor quality.

By collecting and measuring air quality data for indoor spaces such as schools, it is possible to understand the indoor air quality in classrooms so that it is optimized for the best learning environment for our kids and for the safest classrooms in terms of airborne viral transmissions. Additional measurements to track the impact of temperature, humidity, PM2.5, and CO2 on the potential of airborne viral transmission in real time is also possible.

Essentially, we cannot manage or optimize what we cannot measure. Therefore, measurements, data, and standards are necessary if we want to make the best decisions possible with the limited resources available to optimize indoor air quality in schools and classrooms. When it comes to measuring the complex issues that arise in built environments, it is important to have robust information delivered with accuracy.

Stanton Wong is the President of RESET (www.reset.build/). RESET is a set of standards and assessment tools & services to develop actionable, long term strategies towards health and sustainability for the built environment. The RESET Air Standard defines the rules and structure for collecting air quality data for indoor spaces by leveraging continuous monitoring. In addition to the RESET Air Standard, RESET has been working on the RESET Viral Index, which could help schools understand and set clear targets for indoor air quality. The RESET Standard provides quality control over data, which leads to improved system analytics, accelerated problem-solving, and informed optimization strategies.