Commentary
It’s about time. After years of profligate spending, ongoing budget deficits, and declining test scores in Ontario, the Ford government is finally
taking action against several renegade school boards.
Specifically, the government recently appointed a supervisor to
oversee the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSD), launched financial
probes of three other school boards, and ordered trustees in the Brant Haldiman Norfolk Catholic District School Board to
repay their travel expenses from a pricey trip to Italy last year.
Again, this was long overdue. School trustees cannot spend money with impunity, nor should they expect the province to look the other way when they cut classroom budgets but send their senior administrators to a
lavish professional development retreat at the former SkyDome Hotel in downtown Toronto, as happened in the TVDSB last year.
However, the government must not stop here. While it’s important to crack down on wasteful spending, there are many other problems in Ontario’s education system.
For example, over the last 20 years the math skills of Ontario students have
declined by the equivalent of nearly two grade levels while reading skills went down by about half a grade level, as measured by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). And yet, the government has increased education
spending, even after adjusting for inflation. Simply put, Ontario is spending more money on schools and is getting worse results. This is not a recipe for success.
While the Ford government says that it has a back-to-basics focus, this message doesn’t seem to have reached the school board level. Whether it’s the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) bizarre decision to
rename schools named after key historical figures, ongoing
trustee infighting in the Waterloo Region District School Board, or the
failure of schools across the province to use evidence-based approaches for reading instruction (i.e. phonics), school trustees and administrators often seem focused on everything except the academic basics.
The time for half measures is long gone. If the Ford government wants to make real changes to the quality of education students receive, it must consider more drastic measures.
It could start by getting rid of school boards entirely—or at least limit their power. Far from being models of efficiency, school boards have created impenetrable bureaucracies that expand over time. For example, the TDSB employs many
senior bureaucrats with job titles that focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Taxpayers are then stuck with the bill for the outsized salaries of these bureaucrats.
Even if the Ford government keeps the current school boards intact, it should at least follow the
example of five other provinces and allow provincial funds to follow students to schools of their choice. Parents who choose an independent school should not have to pay the entire cost of their children’s education, particularly since they also pay taxes to support the government school system.
Allowing at least some funds to follow students to schools of their choice makes this option more accessible to students from lower- and middle-income families. It’s also an important accountability tool since it encourages healthy competition between different types of schools. No parent should feel that a government school is their only viable option.
Finally, Ontario should follow Alberta’s example and pass
charter school legislation. Charter schools are publicly funded schools that operate outside the authority of government school boards. Each of these schools has a charter from the province that gives it the authority to provide a specific type of academic programming. In Alberta, charter schools have been a huge success. Currently, there are a
total of 42 charter schools in the province, including
Foundations for the Future Charter Academy in Calgary, which has a back-to-basics approach, and
Boyle Street Education Centre in Edmonton, which provides alternative programming for at-risk students.
There are many things the Ford government can do if it’s serious about improving the quality of education in Ontario schools. Cracking down on the worst examples of financial mismanagement in school boards is a good first step—but it isn’t enough. If it takes meaningful action to transform education in Ontario, the Ford government can make a real difference in the lives of students.
Michael Zwaagstra is a public high school teacher and a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
