Ontario government answers critics with $781M for schools
CHINTA PUXLEY
Canadian Press March 19 2007
TORONTO — The Ontario Liberals appeased many of their critics in the run-up to October's election by announcing Monday they will pour $781 million more into the province's classrooms for special education, more teachers and arts programs.
Even though enrolment is declining across many boards, Education Minister Kathleen Wynne said schools will have more cash this year for outdoor education and the arts while small, isolated schools will get more teachers, allowing them to stave off closure.
“Overall, we have listened to our education partners and we've made these improvements based on what we know the cost pressures are in the boards,” said Ms. Wynne, adding the new cash isn't about winning support in the October election.
“Students in Grade 1 and 2 don't know that there is an election coming and they really don't care. What they care about is that their teacher has the resources that she needs, that their school has good, clean classrooms and that their parents can be involved in the system.”
Although Ms. Wynne hasn't fundamentally revamped the way boards are funded, Monday's announcement won her the praise of traditional education critics.
The province is giving school boards the extra time they requested to cap their class sizes at 20 students, while giving them money to hire extra teachers and complete necessary renovations.
Some 177 small, rural schools that are often threatened with closure will get funding for up to 14 teachers per school so they can maintain high standards, Ms. Wynne said. Special education programs will also receive stable funding even though schools with declining enrolment often see equally dwindling budgets.
But the best news for many was that the funding for the coming school year was announced in March — not in the summer — which allows boards to plan better for September.
“Off the top of my head, I'm a happy camper,” said Rick Johnson, president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association. “The fact that the grants are in March and I didn't have to wear a Hawaiian shirt and shorts to receive them is a good thing.”
Boards are especially appreciative that the province is giving each school $7,500 to spend on local priorities, he said.
Annie Kidder, with People for Education, said the extra cash is welcome.
But she said some boards will still struggle to balance their budgets because their funding simply hasn't kept up with the high cost of maintaining schools and running programs like English as a second language.
“There is a very big gap between how much things actually cost to run boards and run schools and how much money there is in the funding formula,” she said. “Until we address that problem, we're going to continue to have boards and schools borrowing from Peter to pay Paul or cutting bits of programs here and there.
“That's the big elephant in the room that hasn't been dealt with this year.”