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Stepped Up Neo-Liberal Assaults on Education Alberta Minister of Education Extends Government Dictate Over Local School BoardsFollowing a review by multinational business advisory firm Grant Thornton LLP, Alberta's Minister of Education Adriana LaGrange issued a Ministerial Order regarding the operations of the Calgary Board of Education (CBE), on May 21. The order gives 19 conditions the Board must meet by November 30, or the Minister will dissolve the elected school board and appoint trustees who will obediently submit to the government's dictate.
In targeting the Calgary Board of Education with these measures, the Minister of Education is also sending a message to all other school boards in the province about how the government will operate and that they should fall into line or face the consequences. What is happening in public education in Calgary is of concern to all Canadians as it illustrates how the anti-social offensive is being waged by the ruling circles to undermine public education and expand the space for privatization and further wrecking of the public system. Grant Thornton's mandate from the government was to look at "Governance and Financial Cost Management" with a focus on items such as "program delivery costing" and "specific cost centres" which include, among other things, "staffing levels and related compensation." Grant Thornton positions itself as an adviser to municipal governments and other public levels of government on "financial sustainability," which in plain English means advising governments on which cuts to make. The review is in the service of the takeover of public education by private interests. The starting point is not that all children living in Alberta have a right to education, and that we need to work out how to guarantee that right. Rather, the outlook is that funding for education is a burden and a drain on society and other sectors of the economy. The report itself presents a series of observations about what are considered positive and negative features of the CBE's finances. On the negative side is the fact that the CBE signed a long-term lease for their headquarters before oil prices crashed, and is consequently paying much more than current market rate. On the positive side, according to Grant Thornton LLP, the "CBE is currently on the higher end of efficiencies as compared to other school jurisdictions with respect to custodial staffing costs." The CBE even boasts that each full-time caretaker is assigned 2,361 square metres to clean, on average. No investigation is made into whether this is adequate or realistic even under normal circumstances. The report does not even recognize that in the conditions of a global pandemic, schools cannot be safely re-opened without a very significant increase in the level and frequency of cleaning. The CBE is criticized for not having sufficient money in their operating reserves "at a time of financial uncertainty following the election of a new government." In other words, the government can set education funding at whatever amount it wants, has no social responsibility to ensure funding commensurate with the needs of students, teachers and education workers, and it is the CBE who is at fault for not being prepared to cope. The CBE should have anticipated a famine and put everyone on a diet in preparation. The report summarizes its findings as follows: "Overall, the findings are indicative of an organization that has undergone turmoil at the governance level with a focus on process over function and a short-term view of financial sustainability. This said, at the operational level of financial management we found many examples of strong financial processes and controls along with some areas for which we have provided recommendations for improvement." The Minister has cherry-picked from the report to paint the desired picture of a failing public institution that has lost its way and needs government intervention to get back on track. Words from the report are twisted to make them sound more critical of the CBE than they actually are. As CBE has supposedly "become focused on internal process related matters and policy interpretation rather than the strategic matters at hand," the solution is to make various amendments to operational expectation policies, to have a governance instructor approved by the Minister, and to improve its risk management program.
We need to provide the right to education with a guarantee because society needs enlightened teachers, education workers, schools, colleges and universities to help raise our children and open a path forward for the progress of society. We need an education system which recognizes that guaranteeing this right means that the needs of all students must be looked after, and the relevant programming provided. In particular, Indigenous children, kids whose first language is not English or French, and kids with special needs must all be provided with what they need to thrive. The Kenney government has a different agenda. Its aim is to serve the private interests of those in control of the economy who make up the financial oligarchy, and in Alberta the energy oligarchs and their financiers in particular. Whatever does not serve this need is dispensable. Among other things, Minister LaGrange has directed the CBE to "establish performance measures, which can be used to determine the quality of programs and the information needed to monitor the educational and cost effectiveness of supplementary programs." What is being implied is that the CBE needs to refocus on its "core business" of educating students in the regular school setting. Within the Calgary public school system, there are a number of alternative programs, such as immersion programs, arts-centred learning, science-focused education, classes for pregnant students and new mothers, and outreach programs for at-risk students who are not successful in traditional schools. These programs often come with additional expenditures related to transporting students over longer distances or, in some cases with students in need, maintaining smaller class sizes. Narrowing the scope of public education aligns with the objectives of Bill 15, the Choice in Education Act, which was passed by the Alberta legislature on June 24. Bill 15 further centralizes the process for approval of charter schools in the hands of the Education Minister, and expands the criteria on which charter schools can be approved. The bill also removes the requirement that the public school board be invited to run an alternative program before it can be established as a charter school. It is also consistent with the United Conservative Party policy of "equitable per-student funding in accordance with school choice." Alberta already funds private schools at 70 per cent of the public system, and Kenney has made it clear he favours expansion of both private and charter schools. Forcing the CBE to refocus on its "core business" rather than its "supplementary programs," can serve to eliminate programs which do not serve the needs of the financial oligarchy, such as outreach schools. The most vulnerable students would be abandoned in the process, but this does not appear to be a big concern for the Minister of Education or the Alberta government.
Other "financial management" measures include considering eliminating all bus service to students who live less than 2.4 kilometres from school and raising fees for transportation. As the organization Support Our Students points out, the Education Minister's priority right now must be how to relaunch schools safely. Schools actually need more resources, not less, at this time. Students are already suffering from the arbitrary way in which the decision to close schools and lay off many education workers was made. The failure to consult teachers and involve them in decision-making is doing harm to students and the education system. The government has failed to take up its social responsibility to adequately fund education, and when cracks appear in the system, it goes in for the kill. While all eyes are focused on how to overcome the crisis, the government has taken the opportunity to push an agenda of privatization. This is shameful behaviour. Meanwhile, it is teachers and education workers who are taking up social responsibility, in the face of the government's failure to do so. When schools were closed, teachers and education workers did not wait for a voice from on high to give them direction. They immediately went into action to check in on the well-being of their students and to work out together how online learning should take place. It is with this spirit that they will continue to defend public education.
This article was published in   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
The review was
ordered by the Minister of Education in November
2019 to punish the CBE for speaking out publicly
about the consequences of the government's cuts
to education funding. While the CBE ultimately
was permitted to dip into their infrastructure
and maintenance funds to keep staff this year,
the board had expected to cut 300 teaching
positions in the middle of the school year based
on the budget released by the Alberta
government.
The business
jargon is enough to make one's head spin, but
one element leaps out: risk management. The
conditions needed for students to thrive and
teachers and education workers to meet those
needs and to defend their rights are seen as a
liability to the rich because it reduces the
amount of social reproduced value (wealth) that
they can expropriate and claim as private
profit. For the rich, the education system is
the source of the workers they need with the
specific skills they require. Private interests
also demand control over everything from
building schools (public-private partnerships),
to planning curriculum, and in higher education
over research.
The CBE is
directed to "support classrooms in a more direct
way (i.e. more "regular" teachers and fewer
specialists, leaders, administration, etc).
Rededicating resources to the "front lines" has
become a mantra in the context of the
anti-social offensive. It distorts the reality,
which is that most teachers who are designated
leaders are teaching full time or nearly full
time, and that the few specialists who exist
also provide vital services needed by students
and teachers.