Education matters – CAMPAIGN FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION

Pandemic resources

cpeadmin — Thu, 30 Apr 2020 17:17:11 +0000

Education Resources in the Pandemic

Opposition builds

cpeadmin — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 13:20:21 +0000

Upwards of 20,000 parents, students and education workers converged on Queens Park Saturday. From Timmins to Toronto they came with one unified message for the Ford government. Cuts Hurt Kids.

“students say no!”issues statement

cpeadmin — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 13:15:03 +0000

Follow CPE via our up-to-date facebook posts

cpeadmin — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 17:07:12 +0000

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2212086749/

EAs threatened by Ford’s cuts

cpeadmin — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 17:01:29 +0000

Educational Assistants are key to our children’s well being in Ontario’s schools.

huge program cuts from freeze in staff hiring

cpeadmin — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 15:01:47 +0000

Ford government recommends Ontario school boards freeze hiring ahead of upcoming budget

Memo to school boards asks them to ‘exercise prudence in making hiring decisions’

The provincial government has recommended that Ontario school boards implement a hiring freeze until the details of the upcoming budget are solidified.

“I am writing to you today to recommend that school boards exercise prudence in making hiring decisions in light of the upcoming Ontario budget and the recent consultation on class size and hiring practices,” said Nancy Naylor, deputy minister of education, in a memo sent to school board heads on Thursday.

ANALYSIS

What to expect from Doug Ford’s government as legislature resumes

Ford government says full-day ‘learning’ will stay, but it won’t necessarily be kindergarten

“School boards are advised to defer the annual processes of filling vacancies for retirements and other leaves related to teachers and other staff until the minister of education provides an update to the sector on or before March 15th,” Naylor continued.

The memo comes as the government reviews feedback obtained during recent consultations on class sizes in Ontario. Changes could include the removal of the cap on kindergarten and primary grade class numbers.

School boards have previously expressed fears that they could be hit by funding cuts as the Progressive Conservatives look to dig the province out of a $13.5-billion deficit.

The provincial government is also considering eliminating full-day kindergarten after the 2019-2020 school year, though it has committed to keeping some form of “full-day learning” in place. It recently completed consultations on the matter.

Finance Minister Vic Fedeli has not revealed when the provincial budget will be released, though it generally occurs some time in the spring.

Lucas Powers · CBC News · Posted: Mar 01, 2019 8:03 AM ET

Santa Ford naughty NOT nice

cpeadmin — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 16:39:48 +0000

Late on a Friday as seasonal festivities converge, Ontario’s Education Ministry grants were cancelled. Included:

tutors in the classroom,
student success leaders for racialized students,
Indigenous-focused collaborative inquiry,
support for daily physical activity for elementary and secondary students, as well as
a program that is for “ensuring equitable access to post-secondary education.”

Submit today: MOE’s funding survey!

cpeadmin — Fri, 14 Dec 2018 17:30:43 +0000

Dear Deputy Minister Naylor,

• Efficient Price Setting

First and foremost it is important that GSNs prioritize a school system that is publicly-funded based on student need.

• Outcomes-Based Funding

An outcomes-based model of funding must be tied to a Students’ Bill of Rights rather than a Parents’ Bill of Rights.

• Accountability and Value-for-Money E

Extensive research on North America’s public education experience and particularly related to the 170 years of public education delivery in Ontario demonstrates clearly that the search for “efficiencies” will be futile, without putting students first.

The services public education currently provides our students, community members, adults and new Canadians are programs and services that will be improved by:

· giving students what they actually need to succeed

· eliminating the Ontario-wide $15.9 billion school repair backlog and

· ensuring better staffing levels for all program delivery.

• Other Education Funding Efficiencies

Key items of concern to our community-based policy organization are:

1. The important role played by Educational Assistants, and how better staffing levels would improve student outcomes and the overall classroom environment

2. The dangers of contracting out school board work to private companies and reducing the continuity, consistency and safety that children need.

3. How school custodians play an important role in student safety

4. The importance of school libraries in providing students with the skills they need to succeed, and the key role played in developing literacy and research skills; fostering a love of reading

5. How consistent adult presence by staff keep schools running smoothly and are the frontline of school security.

6. The problems associated with deferred maintenance and the underfunding of school renewal and repair

7. The importance of social workers, speech and language therapists, child and youth workers remaining in our schools.”

Funding through the GSNs must be based upon these priorities.

Sincerely, Campaign for Public Education since 2002 We INSIST on needs-based funding for Ontario’s publicly-funded schools, daycares and adult education.

NOTE to readers: Feel free to copy, paste and improve upon our suggestions if you haven’t yet had time to submit.

Send your advice to EDULABFINANCE@ontario.ca under the Ministry’s proscribed headings of

•Efficient Price Setting;

•Outcomes-Based Funding;

•Accountability and Value-for-Money; and

•Other Education Funding Efficiencies

your input on funding by Friday

cpeadmin — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 14:19:45 +0000

Campaign for Public Education since 2002 We INSIST on needs-based funding for Ontario publicly-funded schools, daycares and adult education.

Dear friends of public education,

We need your help. This is urgent. Each year the Ministry of Education consults on education funding to find out what people would like to see as priorities for school board funding. You can find the survey questions and submission address here.

This year’s consultation closes on December 14, 2018. The Ministry has asked for feedback on four themes, all related to finding “efficiencies” and cutting costs. They ask questions that open the door to defunding our schools and redirecting tax dollars to the private school system as well as privatizing school services and offering school board work to the lowest bidder.

CPE believes that, despite the survey format, we need to quickly submit opinions not covered by the themes on which the Ministry survey is framed.

We hope you’ll make time to complete the online survey in the next week and tell the government why it is important to prioritize the maintaining of a publicly funded school system that is funded based on student need. Submissions can include stories from schools and communities about the importance of schools for students, communities, adults and new Canadians and how school programs and services can be improved by:

giving students what they need to succeed
eliminating the $15.9 billion school repair backlog and
ensuring better staffing levels.

Other suggested items for your submission are:

The important role played by Educational Assistants, and how better staffing levels would improve student outcomes and the overall classroom environment
The dangers of contracting out school board work to private companies and reducing the continuity, consistency and safety that children need.
How school custodians play an important role in student safety
The importance of school libraries in providing students with the skills they need to succeed, and the key role played in developing literacy and research skills; fostering a love of reading
How consistent adult presence by staff keep schools running smoothly and are the frontline of school security.
The problems associated with deferred maintenance and the underfunding of school renewal and repair
The importance of social workers, speech and language therapists, child and youth workers remaining in our schools.”

Again, you should fill it before December 14th.

Curriculum rollback discriminatory

cpeadmin — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 17:11:32 +0000

Student across Ontario staged a walkout on Sept. 21 to protest Premier Doug Ford’s rollback of the sex-ed curriculum. Students at Western Technical Commercial School are shown during a rally outside their school. (STEVE RUSSELL /TORONTO STAR FILE PHOT

By ISABEL TEOTONIO thestar.com Education Reporter Tues., Nov. 6, 2018

Teachers have “substantial discretion” when it comes to the interim sex-ed curriculum and are “required” to teach it “in a way that is inclusive and that reflects the diversity of the student population, including LGBTQ2S+ diversity,” says the province.

That’s according to court documents filed this week by the Minister of Education in response to legal challenges that argue the Progressive Conservatives’ controversial and not inclusive.

The documents also provide insight into the popularity of a government website ForTheParents.ca that was created for parents to share concerns about the curriculum taught in their child’s classroom, which garnered intense backlash when it was launched and was lambasted by critics as being a “snitch line.”

In an affidavit, filed Monday in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Martyn Beckett of the Ministry of Education says learning expectations are designed so that “teachers have substantial discretion in deciding how to teach them.”

“No particular script or list of prohibited or mandatory words is provided,” says Beckett, assistant deputy minister of the student achievement division. “Teachers can choose, in the exercise of their professional judgment, how to design classroom programs to achieve the learning expectations in each grade set out in the HPE Curriculum, and how to implement those classroom programs for a diverse and heterogeneous class of individual students.”

For instance, he notes, teachers can talk about sexual orientation and gender identity, as part of a Grade 5 learning expectation that students “describe physical, emotional, and interpersonal changes associated with puberty.” And in Grade 7, when students are expected to “identify sources of support with regard to issues related to healthy sexuality (e.g., parents/guardians, doctors),” teachers can discuss sources of support that may focus on LGBTQ2S+ students.

Similarly, in Grade 1, students are expected to identify “major parts of the body by their proper names,” and nothing prohibits teaching students “the proper names for genitalia (including penis and vagina).”

His affidavit was among the documents submitted by the province in its response to legal challenges by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) and the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO).

Those challenges were launched after Premier Doug Ford in August repealed the modernized Health and Physical Education curriculum introduced in 2015, which addressed issues such as same-sex relationships, consent, sexual orientation and gender identity. It was replaced by an interim curriculum from 2010, which includes sex-ed material from 1998.

The CCLA and Becky McFarlane — the queer parent of a 10-year-old girl in Grade 6 — filed a joint application in late August seeking an injunction to stop what it called a “discriminatory” curriculum. They argue the outdated curriculum does not foster a safe and inclusive environment for those who are LGBTQ+ and that the province is violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that guarantees equality and security; the Ontario Human Rights Code that outlaws discrimination; and the Education Act that requires schools be an inclusive environment.

In early September, ETFO launched another legal challenge which argues the province is violating teachers’ Charter rights, and their professional and ethical obligations enshrined within the Education Act and the Standards of Practice of the Ontario College of Teachers. The union, which represents 83,000 educators, is also demanding an end to the so-called snitch line, calling it an abuse of power.

In his affidavit, Beckett says that when ForTheParents.ca was introduced Aug. 22, it was for parents to weigh in on the sex-ed curriculum taught to their kids. During the first month, the government received about 25,000 submissions — of these, “very few included allegations of professional misconduct against a teacher, and only 13 of these included the contact information of the person making the submission.” The ministry contacted those 13 people and told them to notify the Ontario College of Teachers.

On Sept. 28, the website was broadened to solicit input on a range of education issues, including improving math and science grades and banning cellphone use in the classroom, as part of a province-wide consultation. By Oct. 29, the government had received 9,897 submissions and 6,523 people had completed a survey. People can also participate in Telephone Town Halls, which have been attracting between 25 and 135 participants per session.

Beckett notes the consultation process will run until Dec. 15 and that input will inform the government’s decisions for the next school year, including the creation of a new sex-ed curriculum that is age appropriate.

Both the CCLA and the ETFO challenges will be heard together in Divisional Court in January.

Isabel Teotonio is a Toronto-based reporter covering education. Follow her on Twitter: @Izzy74