The new minister of education for Ontario is talking tough. Paul Calandra, who has had several different portfolios in the Ford government over the years, has now been given the hot potato of ministerial roles – education. Fighting with school boards, militant teacher unions, parents and teachers has been the hallmark of this role. But Calandra seems to have a vision of what he wants to accomplish in Ontario’s public education system, and it will likely please many parents while infuriating unions, some teachers and some school boards.
Calandra’s mantra going into this role is that he wants to “take the politics out of education.” A noble goal, but one that won’t be easy. Over the last couple of decades, Ontario’s public education system has become rife with politics. Things such as critical race theory, which claims that racism is embedded in our educational institutions and DEI practices, which put criteria such as race, gender and other differences among students ahead of merit and achievement, have become dominant in our schools and have displaced some of the basic subjects students need to learn such as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), literacy and problem solving.
The Ontario government is equipping the new education minister with more power over school boards that do not meet standards, cannot manage to balance their budget or otherwise do not attain provincial goals. Calandra commented that although some school boards are working well, there are others “where I have trustees who think they are supposed to be writing curriculum, trustees who think that it is their job to mediate global conflicts.” Situations such as young students being taken to a Palestinian protest recently without parental knowledge shows how ridiculous things have become in our public school system.
The new legislation would also enable the minister to direct school boards to publicly post trustee and other board staff expenses and give the minister power over school names with new schools or when boards want to change an existing school name. The minister noted how the Toronto District School Board in particular had spent time and money worrying about school names at the same time as they claim they lack money for basic education services. School boards would also be required to put a police officer in a school if the local police service offers one under the new rules.
Of course, the teachers’ unions and some school boards went berserk over the legislative changes, as they had become accustomed to having things their own way for far too long. Unions and school boards also claimed as they always do that the real problem is underfunding. The reality is that Ontario has one of the highest per student levels of funding among developed countries, and education funding has grown every single year despite union claims to the contrary. Taxpayers and parents should be pleased with the new regulations as they will, if followed through on, get politics out of the classroom and promote more of a focus on learning the essentials to help student success in the long term.
In recent years, many parents have concluded that what is going on in our public schools is indoctrination, not education. They are not wrong. While teachers’ unions in Ontario have a long history of self-promotion, paid for with large quantities of our tax dollars, a growing body of research disputes their claim to educational excellence in the province’s public school system. We have seen repeated results from the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) that show about half or less of primary school students are not meeting basic standards in math and literacy. Universities now find they have to offer remedial courses in literacy, numeracy and problem solving because primary and secondary education institutions are not doing their job.
One of the main impediments to serious reform in our public school system is parents, through no fault of their own. Parents frequently do not want to speak out about their criticisms of schools, as they fear their children will be punished as a result. Parents also know their children’s teachers – or they should – and don’t want to look like they are trying to rock the boat or be negative about the people they are entrusting to educate and look after their children for most of the year.
This is perfectly understandable but contributes to the absence of positive change in our school system. Many parents are also very dissatisfied with the inadequate education their children are receiving, and justifiably so. This is especially true considering the major amount of tax dollars the public education system in Ontario sucks up as the second most costly portfolio in government after health care. If Calandra does indeed follow through with his promises, parents should be proactively supportive so his efforts can actually make a difference and result in our young people being provided with a better education for a successful future. Our kids, parents and taxpayers deserve it.
She has published numerous articles in journals, magazines & other media on issues such as free trade, finance, entrepreneurship & women business owners. Ms. Swift is a past President of the Empire Club of Canada, a former Director of the CD Howe Institute, the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, SOS Children’s Villages, past President of the International Small Business Congress and current Director of the Fraser Institute. She was cited in 2003 & 2012 as one of the most powerful women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network & is a recipient of the Queen’s Silver & Gold Jubilee medals.
