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July 16, 2012 - No. 41
McGuinty's "Roadmap" for Education
McGuinty's
"Roadmap"
for
Education
• Local School Boards Left in the Dark -
Christine Nugent
• Agreement Signed Between Catholic Teachers'
Union and Government of Ontario - Laura Chesnik
• The Michigan Example -- Is This What
McGuinty Has in Mind for Ontario? -
Enver
Villamizar
• Discussion Paper on Post-Secondary
Education
• Student Indebtedness in Ontario
For
Your
Information
• Cuts to School Boards Announced to Date
- Sylvia Etts
McGuinty's "Roadmap" for Education
Local School Boards Left in the Dark
- Christine Nugent -
The announcement of the settlement between the Ontario
English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA) and the Ontario
government, without the Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association
present, has left the local Catholic School Boards, teacher and
education organizations, parents and students in an unknown
and untenable situation.
Negotiations between local school boards and teachers'
and
education workers' unions are to take place this September in
accordance
with the Ontario Labour Relations Act.
(Note:
Some
have
begun
already,
but
most
will
commence
in
earnest in September as traditionally not
much goes on locally when school
is out and Board and union members are "on vacation.") The parameters
set
by the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between OECTA and the
government reached July 5 are
final and must be implemented without consideration of local
conditions. The boards must submit
contracts to the province for approval. Much of the local authority
over education is being usurped by the province.
This has put the local Catholic School Boards in a
precarious situation. For example, as reported in their local press,
the director of education for the Huron-Superior Catholic District
School Board, said that the MOU had parts that are "doable" and
"certain others that without the details were not quite sure how
to implement them." Barbara Holland, chairwoman of the Windsor-Essex
Catholic District School Board noted that school boards are teachers'
employers and said, "We were a little dismayed." "We had not been given
any indication OECTA could sign with the province," she said.
According to the details released, the MOU states that
all teachers represented by OECTA will lose three days' pay ("Dalton
Days") amounting to a 1.5 per cent cut in wages in 2013-14. This will
be applied against the government's fiscal targets for the education
sector, the MOU states.
OECTA's salary grid is frozen for two years -- anyone at
maximum on the grid gets a zero per cent wage increase in year one and
a
1.5 per cent
cut in year two.
Movement up the grid for experience and across the grid
for qualifications will continue both years but will only take effect
on the 97th day of the school year instead of the first day. That means
eligible teachers get only half a year's worth of increased pay instead
of a full year for experience and/or additional
qualifications.
 Further, no increases in
health benefits can be
negotiated in local bargaining under the terms of the MOU. Whatever a
Catholic teacher had in 2011-12 is frozen for the next two years, the
only exception being if your collective agreement entitled you to
coverage at "current" rates in, say, the dental plan, your
coverage can increase to reflect whatever the Ontario Dental
Association rates are for that year. This means that for bargaining
units (often the smaller, non-teaching units) with very inferior
benefit plans which they hoped to be able to improve this round, even
that is subject to a provincial prohibition.
Local bargaining will not be able to address any
provision in a collective agreement that has been amended by the MOU.
Further, local bargaining must end by December 31, 2012, after which
anything not mutually agreed to by the Board and the union by that time
will remain status quo. Without the right
to use sanctions, strikes or even to apply for conciliation, all
provided for under the Ontario
Labour Relations Act, Catholic teachers
and anyone else who might come under the same terms as the OECTA MOU,
would have very little power to back up their demands.
The conditions of the MOU clearly address the overall
demand of the ruling elites that the wages, working conditions and
benefits of workers in
Ontario must be driven down so that more of the wealth of the province
is made available to make the rich richer.
Meanwhile the press and certain parties predict a
"stable" start to the fall semester, thereby expressing the cynical
belief that the MOU makes any opposition impossible. This is because
local
negotiations are set within parameters that are tight and final in
terms of what can be negotiated under the OECTA MOU. At the same time,
other questions such as whether there will be funding needed or
additional grants to
cover the terms of this agreement are not answered. Will local boards,
many of which have
already decided their budgets, need to make new arrangements, start
cutting more teachers and education workers, close schools, cancel more
programs, sell off school yards to fix the roofs or what? Everyone is
left to fend for themselves to understand whatever they can.
The reality for local school communities such as the
Toronto District School Board and many other boards, is that for years
they have been working to resist the effects of the pressure put on
them for balanced budgets. In the '90s, the Harris government
implemented an untenable funding formula that the McGuinty government
has refused to resolve. This formula, for example, has
allowed the Peel Board $1,000 less per child than the Toronto Board,
although it is facing similar conditions and demographics. None of this
is resolved and no means of resolving it are provided.
Another arrangement by the Harris government which has
not changed is that boards must balance their budgets, despite the
inadequacies of the funding formula. If not, they lose their
decision-making power to a government-appointed supervisor who will
step in and do as they see fit to meet the government's
agenda. Now, in addition, the McGuinty government agenda is to
eliminate the deficit by 2017-2018. In this situation all
local decision-making in the delivery of quality education is given no
role. The recent agreement adds to this loss of local authority.
It demands that the local boards submit collective
agreements to the province for approval.
 Statements from the
Premier's office that "The 2012
Budget takes strong action to eliminate Ontario's deficit by 2017-18
while protecting health care and education, all of which is essential
to creating jobs and growing the economy" are designed to deceive
school communities. Many local board members are
speaking out against this fraud.
A serious look at the facts reveals that the education
system is not protected. The budget recently passed by all Ontario
political
parties in the Legislature contains restrictions on increases to
education
that has already resulted in local boards implementing austerity
measures. The local boards have had to respond to
funding cuts and have not been able to shield themselves from these
financial losses. This was the case even before the parameters forced
on
the Catholic teachers and education workers were established.
The boards, despite opposition from parents, teachers and education
organizations have had to make decisions that are damaging to the
health of local boards and their education community. These boards are
now faced with local negotiations in the fall with
no assurance of how the new MOU will be implemented. Millions
of dollars are being taken out of the system at a cost to quality
education in Ontario.
By the looks of it, McGuinty's "moving forward together"
sermon, without
increasing funding to social programs, is a fraud designed to take all
decision-making power out of the hands of teachers and support staff.
Agreement Signed Between Catholic Teachers' Union and
Government of Ontario
- Laura Chesnik -
On July 5, the Ontario English Catholic Teachers'
Association (OECTA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the
Ontario government. It was ratified by OECTA's Provincial Executive
that same morning. The MOU must be incorporated into all local
collective agreements. OECTA's provincial
website states: "The parameters of the MOU cannot be changed and will
not be subject to local ratification."
On July 10, the MOU was endorsed by OECTA's Council of
Presidents by a vote of 42 in favour, 24 opposed.[1]
The two-year agreement, the first and only one yet to be
signed between the province and education workers in Ontario, includes
among other things: a two-year wage freeze, three unpaid days during
the 2013-2014 school year, the elimination of 50 per cent of
previously-negotiated sick days, elimination of the ability
to bank unused sick days and an end to retirement gratuities. And to
pour salt into the wounds of education workers: no strikes, lockouts or
requests for conciliation during the period of local bargaining
September 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012.
 In a letter to members,
OECTA President Kevin O'Dwyer
stated: "If there is no agreement [by December 31, 2012], status quo
prevails, which means the terms of the 2008-2012 agreement are extended
for the next two years, except for the terms of the MOU. Between
September 1 and December 31, 2012 (during
bargaining), there will be no job action or strikes by teachers, and no
lockouts by school boards. This is one of the parameters agreed to in
the MOU. Boards cannot apply for conciliation, which means boards
cannot unilaterally change the terms of the current collective
agreements."
The ability of teachers and
support staff to withhold
their labour and stall the beginning of the school year would create
immense pressure to resolve the dispute while offering teachers and
students what remains of the school year to cover necessary content.
However, the MOU comes into effect as of September
1, 2012 and opens the period of collective bargaining that already has
a set end date. After December 31, 2012, a new collective agreement is
in place; whether it is the MOU with new collective agreement
terms/language in sections not touched by the MOU or it is the MOU with
a status quo agreement. Either way,
by January 1, 2013 there is an agreement in place and as such there
would be no ability to withhold education workers' labour.
The MOU also takes district school boards out of the
picture. Not only are the negotiated terms being dictated to them as
well, but if they wanted to lock out employees in a political statement
to put pressure on the government to increase provincial funding for
education, especially considering the province's
newly imposed "budgeting practices," under the MOU they can't (see Ontario
Political Forum, July
9, 2012 - No. 40).
In a bulletin to members issued after a July 12 meeting
with provincial negotiators, Ontario Secondary School Teachers'
Federation (OSSTF/FEESO) President Ken Coran stated:
"Giving up these rights [conciliation, sanction/strike, ratification
and unencumbered local bargaining] is unacceptable to OSSTF/FEESO and
our members. We will be proceeding with
the provisions outlined in the Labour
Relations Act and will move
forward with local bargaining."
On June 11, it was reported that l'Association des
enseignantes et enseignants Franco-ontariens and the Ontario Secondary
School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF/FEESO) met with the province to get
more information on the MOU.
The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO)
walked out of the Provincial Discussion Table (PDT) at the beginning of
the negotiations in opposition to the threats of legislation and the
conditions of the parameters put forth. They remain away from the PDT.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees-Ontario (CUPE-O)
which represents 55,000 school board support workers in every
elementary and high school as well as Catholic and French language
schools in Ontario is opposed to the deal and also remains away from
the PDT.
Note
1. The Ontario English Catholic
Teachers Association's Council of
Presidents consists of: OECTA's unit presidents or their designates;
the elected members of the Association; the elected Association
representatives on the board of governors of the Ontario Teachers'
Federation; the president
of the St. Michael's College School Teachers' Association; one
occasional teacher bargaining unit representative for each of the
following regions: northeast, northwest, southwest and central;
chairpersons of the standing committees, networks, work groups, project
teams, task forces and the Institute for Catholic
Education representative (non-voting); the general secretary
(non-voting) and the deputy general secretary (non-voting).
The Michigan Example -- Is This What McGuinty
Has in
Mind for Ontario?
- Enver Villamizar -
Michigan-wide protests
against cuts to education, May 23, 2011.
In March of 2011, using the pretext of deficit financing
in education, the state of Michigan legislature
passed the Local Government and
School District Fiscal Accountability
Act, commonly known as Public
Act 4 or PA4. The Act expanded the power
of the Governor of Michigan to place local school districts and cities
in "financial distress" in state receivership
and impose "emergency financial managers" on them. The Act also
expanded the powers of emergency managers once they are imposed.
Under the Act, an emergency manager can now dismiss
elected local governance of school districts or cities; take control of
budgets and issuance of bonds; approve or eliminate existing contracts
and negotiate, or not, all future contracts; hire, fire and lay off
city workers; sell public assets like school buildings,
libraries and water rights; guarantee debt payments and more.
The Act amended the state's labour legislation to
provide that collective bargaining is suspended for five years from the
date a school district is placed in receivership by the State or until
the receivership is terminated.
The City of Detroit has been at the centre of schemes to
put in place new state-wide arrangements in public education using the
new powers of emergency managers contained in the Act.
In May 2011, Roy S. Roberts was appointed Emergency
Manager for the Detroit Public Schools by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder
and given broad powers to "rectify the District's fiscal emergency."
Roberts is a former General Motors executive and director of a private
equity firm.
Shortly after being appointed, Roberts announced that
starting in September 2012, 15 Detroit public schools (nine elementary
and six secondary) in the Detroit Public Schools District will be
placed
under the control of a newly-created statewide school district called
the Education Achievement Authority (EAA).
The schools placed under the new state-wide
authority are those which have been designated by the federal
government as "failing schools" due to their "failure" to properly
implement federally mandated "redesign plans." However, the EAA has
stated that its intention is to place all public "failing schools"
statewide under its control.
The EAA is currently soliciting proposals from charter
school operators and other contractors to run some of its schools and
buildings. Despite being part of the public system, funding for its
functioning for the upcoming year comes from unnamed foundations and
donors.
Those teachers and staff which were employed by the
schools placed in the new district were fired, and are now being forced
to re-apply for their jobs in a situation with no union and where
individualized contracts are signed between a teacher and the district,
rather than a collective agreement.
The EAA was created through an interlocal agreement
between Eastern Michigan University and the Emergency
Manager-controlled Detroit Public Schools district. Michigan's Urban
Cooperation Act provides for such contracts between government
entities
in an area to "share their budgets to reach a common
goal they may be unable to reach separately."
Rather than locally elected officials, the EAA is
governed by an appointed 11-member Board. It is made up of: two members
appointed by Detroit Public Schools, two members appointed by Eastern
Michigan University and seven members appointed by the governor.
Members serve at the pleasure of the respective
appointing authority.
Meanwhile on June 30, those teachers and staff which
remain part of the Detroit Public Schools and continue to be
represented by the Detroit Federation of Teachers had a contract
imposed on them by Emergency Manager Roberts. Amongst other things, the
new contract imposed a 10 per cent wage cut, as well as
the suspension of payouts of banked sick leave for teachers who
retire. The imposed collective agreement affects some 4,100 teachers
currently employed by the Detroit Public Schools.
Detroit is just one example. Similar arrangements are
being made across the state. Emergency managers in Muskegon Heights and
Highland Park, Michigan have announced that schools in those districts
will all be turned over to for-profit charter operators when schools
open in the fall.
These measures have been met with stiff
resistance from the people of Michigan, especially the high school
youth in Detroit. During the last school year, students organized
ongoing walkouts against the takeover of their schools and attacks on
public education. They were supported by union teachers who
are working out how to mobilize their members under the new
circumstances where local elected governance is being eliminated as is
the right of unions to negotiate collectively.
Discussion Paper on Post-Secondary Education
The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities has
released a discussion paper on innovation for colleges and universities
which it argues will make the Ontario post-secondary sector stronger.
The paper is titled "Strengthening Ontario's Centres of Creativity,
Innovation and Knowledge." It is important to
examine and discuss the paper as it presents the government's aim for
post-secondary education. People in Ontario depend on post-secondary
education for a number of reasons. As part of society
they need a system which serves its advancement, along with their own.
Is this the aim
of the government's discussion paper?
An Anti-Social Agenda
The discussion paper begins its proposals from the
viewpoint of economic crisis. It declares that "lower rates of spending
growth" are the order of the day, not investments in the kind of
education required by the society and the generations of youth
and others who need the knowledge and skills it requires.
"In light of the current fiscal climate, and as we
continue to recover from the recession, it is necessary to lead the
province's publicly funded higher education system towards lower rates
of spending growth. Costs in the post-secondary sector have grown at a
rate above inflation during a time when growth and
grants from government have become constrained. At the same time, a
balanced tuition policy is essential for both students and the
government in order to ensure financial sustainability as well as
adequate recognition of the public and private benefits of education."
Is this an acceptable approach for the development of a
post-secondary education system in a modern society? There is no
discussion of the causes of the economic crisis, just a demand for the
education system to give in to its consequences. The government itself
seeks to relinquish its public responsibility to fund
the system so that it prospers. It even openly refers to the "private
benefits of education" without any explanation of whom or what is
represented by these benefits.
Ontario Political Forum
has pointed out the following in
the context of public services: "People support reforms which eliminate
what is blocking society from moving forward and strengthen the
positive things society has given rise to. However, to make radical
changes which subordinate the public interest to
the private interests of the monopolies is an entirely different thing."[1] This is also true of the proposals in the
discussion
paper on post-secondary education. It
serves to justify cuts to post-secondary education in the name of
debt-servicing and other pay-the-rich
schemes.
The paper goes on to say:
"Managing growth in compensation costs will be [a] key
to sector sustainability. The government expects all broader public
sector (BPS) partners to bargain responsibly and to consider aspects of
collective agreements that enhance productivity and facilitate
transformation. The government is also working towards
a number of initiatives intended to improve the sustainability,
affordability, and efficiency of pension plans in the BPS.
Consultations have already begun on a proposed framework for jointly
sponsored public sector pension plans. The government will also
consider a variety of tools to enhance the sustainability of
single-employer pension plans, and expects that these plans will move
to a 50-50 cost sharing formula for ongoing contributions within five
years."
It is clear that those involved in the delivery of
post-secondary education will be the ones to bear the brunt of cost
cutting measures. It is an anti-human approach and runs contrary to the
reality of education that requires a pro-social agenda. This has
already been the government's approach to negotiations with
elementary and secondary school teachers and education workers. College
faculty are also in the midst of negotiations with a deadline set for
August 31 after its last contract in 2010 was imposed by the College
Employer Council representing the government. The proposals for changes
to pension plans must also
be discussed in terms of what it means for those reaching retirement.
The discussion paper is a clarion call for all those involved in the
delivery of post-secondary education to evaluate its aim and measures
and whether these serve their interests.
A Focus on Innovation
Much of the paper refers to what it calls the need for
innovation in post-secondary education to drive productivity. The
report emphasizes the need for growth in what it calls entrepreneurial
education through experiential learning which it describes as students
working in shared spaces with direct links
with the private sector. It also refers to the possibility of funding
these spaces, based on a performance basis, through more online
learning.
Its ideas to drive innovation include: expanded
credential options including labour-market focused three-year degrees
that could include specific experiential learning opportunities, more
effective credit transfer between institutions, year-round learning,
continued focus on teaching and learning outcomes, increased
use of technology, including more on-line learning (and even the
potential for a degree- and diploma-granting Online Institute).
All of this is to make the sector more productive or, in
other words, cut costs. Students, faculty, support staff and others at
the colleges and universities should discuss what these proposals mean
for them based on their direct experiences.
The paper concludes with a discussion on how innovation
and productivity can inform forthcoming tuition policy that is fair for
both students and institutions. It states:
"We see a higher education sector that has more fluidity
between learning, training, and the workforce...We see a system that is
driven by learning outcomes and the quality of education. We see a
sector that fosters and supports our young entrepreneurs. And, most
importantly, we imagine a PSE system that is
highly innovative and productive -- a nimble sector that is ready to
adapt to the accelerating change of pace in technology and in our
economy."
Education for Whom and for What Purposes? Who Decides?
The discussion paper comes at a time of debate about the
development of education across the country, captured in the Quebec
students' organization against increased tuition fees and all attempts
of retrogression of the system, based on the needs of society. What
stance does the discussion paper take
in this debate and does it capture public sentiment? What do people
want to see in a discussion paper on post-secondary education? These
questions must be considered if the government actually carries through
on its deliberations on the paper. The government will hold a series of
discussions on specific topics, including
tuition policy, funding formulas, and productivity and innovation in
the sector. Ontario Political Forum encourages
everyone
to
consider
the
proposals
in
the
paper
and to develop their own discussions in order to
intervene on a political basis of their own making.
Continued discussion on the paper and the overall agenda
that governments are proposing for the economy and all of its sectors
must take place in a calm and sober manner. Such an approach must start
from an analysis of the real world today as it presents itself. The
economic system that dominates in most countries
around the world is in crisis and governments that are embroiled in
this crisis are facing their own crisis of legitimacy as they follow
the demands of monopolies for open markets and skilled labour trained
at no cost to themselves.
Governments that are supposed to serve the public will are instead
serving narrow private interests which characterized
old societies of the aristocracy. A paper that presents education in
this way cannot be accepted if society is to advance.
Finally, it is important to keep in mind what demands
governments are placing on universities and colleges. Governments must
serve their function to fulfill the public will and thus provide
discussion on education and other sectors of the economy and society.
The report mentions the need for assessment of its
mandate as follows: "If the post-secondary sector is being charged with
improving
productivity through innovation, it is important to understand where
our institutions stand now and how well they are progressing towards
achieving the vision and goals that have been set for the sector."
However, once again, discussion on this mandate must
start from whether it is an acceptable outlook in the first place to
advance post-secondary education on a pro-social basis which is the
fundamental character of all modern education.
Note
1. Ontario Political Forum, May
10, 2012 -- No. 35.
Student Indebtedness in Ontario
Ontario students pay the highest tuition fees in the
country. Those fees have increased as much as 71 per cent since 2006.
Ontario
university students are forced to pay nearly 50 per cent of their
institutions'
operating budgets and 35 per cent at the colleges', while per student
funding
on the part of the government is the lowest in the country. In real
dollars, Ontario spends less on post- secondary education per student
than two decades ago and the average per-student funding from the
provincial government is only 78 per cent of the Canadian average. In
the last
election, Dalton McGuinty promised that
his government would cut tuition fees by 30 per cent. The 30 per cent
Off
Ontario Tuition is a grant. This grant was introduced supposedly to
help make post secondary education more affordable for full-time
undergraduate university and college students. For two terms beginning
in fall 2012, the grant, for those deemed
eligible, would pay $1,680 a year for students in a degree program at a
college or university and $770 a year for students in a certificate or
diploma program at a college.
Part of the costs to cover the grants for those who
qualify is being recovered by the elimination of three other student
aid programs. The programs which have been eliminated are programs many
of these students would have qualified for which would have resulted in
a net gain. With the loss of these programs
those students who do qualify for the new grant will not see any net
benefit. Besides this, the government has given itself the go-ahead to
continue to increase tuition fees by up to five per cent per year
regardless of the grant program.
User-Pay Culture
As in all fields of life -- from health care to
education
to private highways -- the government is determined to maintain a
user-pay culture in Ontario. Its grants program excludes two thirds of
the students in Ontario, including part-time students, a growing
demographic which needs
to work due to exorbitant costs of post-secondary education. Full-time
law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, optometry and education students
are also exempt from the grant. Graduate students are also not included
in the grant program. Nowadays most graduate students live below the
poverty line. They continue to
provide research for mostly private interests at a pittance. They are
demanding that the funding they receive should be commensurate with the
work they do and provide an adequate living. This is a reasonable
demand.
Graduate students who return to university after being
away for more than four years also do not qualify. They face high
unemployment rates and many are underemployed. They find themselves
unable to pay the banks and other lending institutions the
$40,000-70,000 loans they incurred to pay for their studies
and the accrued interest which kicks in six months after leaving
school.
The grant program also leaves out those students whose parents make
more than $160,000 a year, whether or not the parents help them pay for
their school fees. Astonishingly, the 44 per cent of students currently
receiving financial aid through
the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) are considered
independent of their parents and will not be eligible for the tuition
grant, even though they have demonstrated financial need in order to
qualify for OSAP in the first place.
Due to deregulation under the Mike Harris government,
since 1996 universities charge international students tuition well in
excess of the combined tuition and ancillary fees and government
operating revenue received from domestic students. In fact,
international students face tuition fees that are currently 3.5
times greater than those of domestic students. This is why the McGuinty
government last year said it would increase international student
enrollment by 50 per cent over the next five years.
During the last election, the Canadian Federation of
Students-Ontario (CFS-O) called for an immediate 13 per cent cut to
tuition fees for all. Education must be recognized as a right the CFS
points out, not a commodity. There are many countries in the world with
free post-secondary education including Argentina,
Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Malta, Mauritius,
Morocco, Norway, Scotland, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Trinidad and Tobago,
Barbados, Kenya, Peru and Cuba, to name just a few.
For Your Information
Cuts to School Boards Announced to Date
- Sylvia Etts -
  
The following is a sample of the announced budget
decisions by
several of Ontario's local school boards as reported in the press. They
reflect cuts in line with the guidelines sent by the Ministry of
Education to School Board Directors in a March 29 memorandum, which
states: "The 2012-13 school year will
mark the transition from a time of large annual increases in education
funding to a more constrained fiscal environment." This is the
situation in which teachers and local boards will be negotiating the
terms of the teachers' next contract.
These cuts dispel the fraud that this government is
"protecting education."
Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board
Both Kingston and Belleville face:
- possible school consolidation;
- cuts of five to eight teacher positions in September;
- cuts to 15 education assistants in the special
education
department; and it is estimated that the Board's special education
envelope will still be overspent by $530,000 next year;
- cuts to teacher development spending; and
- elimination of several central office positions,
including two teacher consultants.
Avon Maitland District School Board
This board represents public elementary and secondary
schools in Huron and Perth counties.
- The board's finance committee spent three meetings
reviewing the
draft budget with staff, before sending it to the board for a closed
door discussion. It was approved in an open board meeting with no
questions from trustees.
-As a result, schools will operate with 48 fewer staff,
including
teachers, educational assistants, trainers and others next year.
- Effective this month, seven public schools will close.
Bluewater District School Board
- There are threats of school closures.
- The two remaining teachers in Bluewater District
School Board's gifted education program have been "sent back to the
classroom"
leaving the status of the advanced learning program "under review." The
board will receive $24.7 million from the provincial government for
special education this year.
It has allocated $4.1 million from "other areas of the budget" to
increase the special education spending, but there's still a shortfall.
Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board
- Fourteen teaching positions have been eliminated
- Two educational assistant positions in the special
education
program have been cut, along with a special education resource teacher,
an assistive technology position with specialization in the use of
adaptive technology for persons with disabilities, two speech/language
pathologist positions, three librarian technician
positions, two consultant positions and one custodial position.
- The Ministry of Education has provided funding for 25
early
childhood educator positions in the early learning kindergarten
classrooms for the next school year. The full-day kindergarten program
is being phased in from 2010 to 2015.
- The additional early childhood educator positions are
based on
the enrolment of 650 students with 26 per classroom. There are
currently
nine early learning classrooms and that will increase to 16 in
September.
Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board
- The board was
forced to use reserve funds to deal with their deficit of $492,272,
which resulted from implementing full-day kindergarten in six
classrooms that are not currently funded.
- Seventy per cent of the kindergarten students will be
in a full-day
learning environment which exceeds the provincial average of 50 per cent
- Three elementary teaching positions and 4.7 secondary
school positions
have been eliminated through attrition and employee leaves of absence.
Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board
Ten per cent, or 213 board employees, have received
layoff notices, including:
- 110 teachers -- 71 elementary and 39 high school
teachers. This
may change by the fall depending on any decline in enrolment,
retirements and decisions made at the Provincial Discussion Table.
- 28 custodians, 24 information technologists and about
30 education assistants.
- Seven social worker positions,
which affects
the neediest students who come to school hungry, suicidal or with major
home problems. These positions are not funded by the Ministry of
Education.
Toronto District School Board
In early April, the board announced the following cuts:
- 200 high school teachers
- 39 elementary vice-principals
- 430 education assistants. The Canadian Union of Public
Employees
Local 4400 negotiated a deal that offers re-training for some of the
regular program educational assistants who choose to go back to school
- 134 school secretaries
- closing of up to 100 neighbourhood schools next year
- closing of 32 school cafeterias
- $9.9 million in cuts to maintenance budget
- $4.5 million in cuts to teacher development budget
- closing of schools/buildings on Fridays in the summer
and during winter break
- fewer social work/psychological/speech pathology
services
- special education (administration/services)
- school budgets -- $600,000 (roughly $2 per student in
elementary; $3.25 for secondary)
Meanwhile, fees will also be raised and assets sold off:
- fees for permits after-hours use of schools will be
raised by almost 41 per cent;
- 100 parcels of development land to be severed from the
TDSB's 600
schools to generate $100 million to cover building maintenance costs
not funded by the Ministry of Education.
Trustees say that they don't want to resist because they
fear that
the Liberal minority government will place a supervisor in charge
Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and
Clarington Catholic District School Board (PVNC)
- There will be a $2.4 million shortfall this year.
- There will be ten fewer library staff in the next year.
Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board
 Eight schools are being
closed.
Protests of their closings raised the issue of Who Decides?
- Three new schools are being built
- In May, the board voted to close Delta, Sir John A.
Macdonald and
Parkview secondary schools and replace them with one new high school in
the lower city
- Parkside and Highland schools in Dundas to close and a
new school to be built on the Highland site.
- Mountain, Barton and Hill Park schools to close and be
replaced by
one new high school southeast of the Lincoln Alexander Parkway.
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