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:

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.”

Again, you should fill it before December 14th.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontatrio-education-report-mental-health-special-1.4720766

No mention was made in the PC education platform about the state of Ontario’s schools and the $15.9-billion of disrepair in these buildings. And yet, 58 of the newly elected MPPs did sign a commitment to ensure that a Standard of Good Repair is developed for Ontario’s schools, that funding will be provided to ensure that these new standards can be met and that the $15.9-billion of disrepair that currently plagues Ontario’s schools will be eliminated by 2022.

A full listing of elected MPPs who signed the Fix Our Schools Pledge can be found at: fixourschools.ca

Overall, 47% of the MPPs who will be working for Ontarians at Queen’s Park in the coming four years committed to ensuring Ontario’s schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working. (30% of elected PC MPPs, 80% of elected NDP MPPs and 43% of elected Liberal MPPs signed the Fix Our Schools Pledge.)

We’re hoping that when the real work begins the new PC government will also respect Ontario’s children and fix Ontario’s schools.

Press contacts: Stephen Seaborn, Campaign for Public Education – (416) 737-2980

“We need a province-wide Standard of Good Repair for schools and adequate, stable provincial funding for school boards to meet those standards within a set timeline of four years.  – Stephen Seaborn, Campaign for Public Education

 “The fact that 58 of the newly elected MPPs signed the Fix Our Schools Pledge clearly shows that that school conditions are an important issue. We certainly expect this next provincial government to step-up to address the $15.9 billion in school disrepair and to institute a measurable standard of good repair for the buildings in which 2-million Ontario children spend their days. We cannot allow children in Ontario to attend school in buildings that have crumbling walls, leaking roofs and generally unsafe conditions anymore.”  – Krista Wylie, Co-Founder, Fix Our Schools

Boy recovering after hot asphalt leaks through Toronto school’s roof, burns arms and neck