Auditor General calls for independent review of schools funding formula:
On December 6th in Toronto, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk released her 2017 Annual Report. The report includes 14 different audits that focus on provincial government spending. Two audits in particular are relevant to Ontario school boards and public education: Ministry Funding and Oversight of School Boards In the 2016/17 school year, the Ministry and municipalities combined provided school boards […]
Horwath’s promise
According to her official facebook page release Andrea Horwath stopped short of calling for a province-wide “standard of good repair” or the elimination of a $15.9 billion backlog in Ontario’s school repairs. The NDP leader’s page reports that she committed to (the significantly less-ambitious promise) to make Education Development Charges available to Toronto’s public school […]
Fund the repair of Ontario’s crumbling schools
Submissions to the Ministry of Education on what we need to see in the 2018 Grants for Student Needs (GSNs) have been coming in from across the province. Here is CPE’s submission. Based on the Ministry’s own figures, senior economist Hugh Mackenzie, in his new report, Ontario’s Deteriorating Schools; The Fix is Not In, concludes that $1.6 billion of additional funding will […]
Liberals sidestep $15.9 billion repair backlog
Directly following our Tuesday press conference Ontario’s Premier was questioned: NDP’s Andrea Horwath: My question is for the Premier. Schools in Ontario need $15.9 billion worth of repairs just to get them to decent standards for our children. That’s a very big number, with very big consequences. In the summer, that number means kids are in the classrooms […]
Liberals: $3 billion to save crumbling schools
Noted economist Hugh Mackenzie has revealed that $3 billion per year is needed to repair, maintain and rebuild Ontario’s schools. His comprehensive report shows that Ontario is faced with $15.9 billion of disrepair that has been allowed to accumulate in our schools over the last 20 years. $3 billion per year is over double current […]
Schools in disrepair: why?
The parent campaign, Fix Our Schools, has a series of answers: “We are adrift in a sea of schools that are in appalling shape. The majority of Ontario schools simply cannot be considered buildings that provide optimum learning conditions. Who let it get this far? “You might be surprised to hear that your property taxes […]
Report: “gross underfunding”
As far back as 2002, a $5.6 billion repair backlog existed in Ontario’s publicly funded schools. Today, there is $15.9 billion of disrepair in the buildings where 2 million Ontario children spend their days. At Queens Park Media Studio 10am Tues, Nov 14 2017 economist Hugh Mackenzie will release his report entitled, “Ontario’s deteriorating schools […]
Province, allow schools to collect developers’ cash!
Current rules restrict school boards’ ability to collect levies from builders and what they can spend it on Ali Youssefi, parent council co-chair, and son Kamyar, 10, in front of McKee Public School, which has almost doubled its size to 775 students since Youssefi’s eldest son started there a decade ago. (CARLOS OSORIO / TORONTO STAR) | “Families are […]
funding formula bad for schools
Economist Hugh Mackenzie and campaigner Annie Kidder lay out the Tory & Liberal legacy on TVO.
Special Ed EAs rock!
a special sort of educator. I’ve been teaching for over 20 years, and even now, I marvel at the work educational assistants do. These are people who exercise patience as though it’s part of their lifeblood. The kids they deal with on a regular basis are sometimes not the easiest cases, when you’re talking about […]