I want our kids to have access to the best possible public education. I want them to be happy and safe. And I want to provide them with the tools they need to succeed.
Unfortunately, our education system is under threat. Ontario has had an education crisis under successive NDP, PC and Liberal governments. We're still feeling the effects of the Liberals' decision last fall to undermine the democratic bargaining rights of teachers, and the Liberals' rapid implementation of full-day kindergarten is still proving to be problematic.
It's a given that Ontario is in a tough economic spot. With a deficit of $12 billion, our services are under pressure. We can't afford to waste money, yet the legacy parties at Queen's Park refuse to address the unnecessary and costly duplication in our education system.
When businesses are in financial trouble, they find ways to innovate, reduce costs, and come out more competitive than they were before the trouble started. Can we apply that thinking to Ontario's Education system? Can we be innovative, eliminate costly duplication, and create a better school system in the process?
You bet we can. Have we? No. Instead, the Liberals have attacked teachers and refused to talk about merging the separate and public school systems.
Ontario has four school systems, covering public English, public French, Catholic English and Catholic French. Ending this duplication could save between $1.3 and $1.6 billion every year. By merging the best of the Catholic and public school boards, we'll find immediate and ongoing savings that we can reinvest in the classroom and provide great education for our kids.
And we shouldn't stop there.
Ontario must remove bureaucratic silos and allow schools to become community hubs. We can get the most out of our assets by expanding the use of school buildings outside regular hours to create learning centres that benefit everyone. And instead of closing schools, we must develop a rural school strategy that recognizes the important role that schools play in small towns.
Without a doubt, the education system in Ontario needs change. We'll need to make some tough calls in today's tough fiscal environment. Given that our fundamental goal should be to ensure the best, brightest future for our kids, we need to put all the options on the table -- including merging the school boards and fully utilizing our schools as community hubs.
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Rather than polarizing Ontarioians with this simplistic & tired old anti-Catholic school position a more reasonable compromise and sensible test case for potential amalgamated savings would be to merge the French Catholic with English Catholic school boards and the French Public with English Public school boards.
Show the savings here first and I'd be more open to your future suggestions.
During the Idle No More Protests I frequently heard proclamations of 'we made the aboriginal population a promise and should live up to the terms of those agreements". How is this different? Similar arrangements were made to the founding Catholics in Ontario and likewise should be honoured.
Mike Schreiner needs to put forth a less simplistic plan that brings all tax paying parents into the fold rather than pitting them against one another. How about a more constructive idea like leaving all the province's individual successful schools alone but having the boards share equally their administrative facilities? Duplications such as in maintenance, purchasing, security, accounting, and I.T. departments are just silly.
"Quebec has abolished its side of the compromise, so why shouldn't Ontario?" http://www.eqao.com/pdf_e/10/2009_PISA_Highlights_en.pdf (check out who scores statistically lower than Ontario. Hint: It starts with a Q.)
The second point is old news. For years it has been argued that the school is a resource for the whole community, not just the school board. This idea has repeatedly failed as school boards have rightly pointed out there is a cost that needs to be covered to increase the use of the facilities.
Let me add one more point. For a short while in this province we had a well funded adult education program in public schools. When the funding was cut the programs died, not because the need was gone.
So there are many ways the money saved from amalgamating the systems can be spent to improve educational opportunities.
re moragu: what about people who would be very upset by having their kids and teachers forced to say those lines? If parents want their children to do the "lord's prayer" every morning why not at home? If we're to add in a lord's prayer for the xtians then we need to add something in for the muslims, buddhists, jewish peoples, baha'i-ers, pastafarians, and then a line that brushes it all aside as nonsense for the athiest parents while we're at it. For the agnostics: http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/7696/vlcsnap2011111700h07m44.png
2. Section 29 of the Constitution of Canada allows for the each provincial government to fund a Catholic School Board and Ontario has chosen to do that. Does not matter what the other provinces do in this case. Whether you like or not it is Constitutionally protected right.
3.Do the math, One Public school board and one Catholic school board are cheaper to fund than the current 4 that we have. The savings could be put towards helping students and preparing them for what may potentially difficult future.
A compromise would be better than what we have now, and our kids can get their programs and trips back