On June 30th, 2008, I wrote that Ontario parents who had elementary aged children in the public system should prepare for a fall strike. Well, I am not so sure anymore. That said, it is always good to have alternative child care plans lined up — just in case — because as it states on the Ontario Ministry of Education (MOE) website:

On August 31, 2008, most of the 475 collective agreements in Ontario’s publicly funded schools will expire. In January 2008, Education Minister Kathleen Wynne initiated informal discussions with trustee associations, teacher federations and unions to explore new four-year collective agreements before their current agreements expire….[However], the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario has left the provincial discussion table.

So, ETFO left the bargaining table some time ago and has not yet returned. Here is the link to the ETFO site explaining one of the main bargaining issues — closing the gap between the per-pupil grants for secondary students versus elementary students. As I wrote in my previous post (and linked above), as long as I can remember secondary student grants were always higher because it was claimed that it was more expensive to educate the older students — given the cost of textbooks and other resources at that level.

If, however, the Ontario government gives in to ETFO on the “gap” issue to avoid a strike, parents and all taxpayers need to know that decision could cost Ontario taxpayers up to $1 billion dollars more. Now, if that actually translated into more resources for children, most of us would not object. However, my guess is, it will only translate into higher salaries and benefits for ETFO members.

Remember, Dalton McGuinty has said he is the “Education Premier.” As such, just how long, I wonder, will the Ontario government and the elementary teachers union stay at odds? My guess? To keep the peace and to keep the teachers’ unions happy, Education Minister Kathleen Wynn will end up settling this dispute at the eleventh hour — claiming a victory for the government.

If I am wrong, however, because the government is getting squeezed by teacher union demands, this government will be no different than any other since the late 1960’s.

I will keep readers up to date as new information becomes available.

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H/T regular reader Ann. See her comment from another thread here.

On Sunday mornings, one of the first things I do is read John Snobelen’s column in the Toronto Sun. His topics are usually current and right on target. Today is no exception as he gives a knock out punch to Ontario’s teachers’ unions.

Think back to the period 1995 to 1999. How did the public sector unions, including the teachers’ unions act? On the day the Harris government was sworn in sometime in late June, 1995, I was at Queen’s Park to observe the ceremony. Before, during and after, there was a line of protesters marching around the legislative building screaming, “shame, shame on Mike Harris.”  Remember, that was even before the Harris government had done anything!

Fast forward to 2008. Negotiations have apparently broken off between the government and ETFO, the elementary teachers’ assocation, which wants parity with secondary school per pupil grants plus a lot of other things. And, we find out that the government could be in a conflict of interest with the teachers’ unions due to campaign donations during both the 2003 and 2007 provincial elections.

Yet, there are no protests in Toronto or elsewhere in Ontario. In fact, since the McGuinty government was first elected in the fall of 2003, apart from the CUPE disagreement over the role of education assistants which tellingly was settled just before the start of the 2007 election campaign, what protests have there been?

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Given that far too many of Ontario’s school boards’ elected trustees cannot be trusted to manage the public interest regarding board budgets and what goes on in Ontario’s schools, that model should be completely abolished in favour of the New Brunswick model of “School Districts.”

Yesterday, for example, Ontario’s Education Minister Kathleen Wynn, had to take over the Toronto Catholic Board’s financial affairs by appointing school finance expert Norbert Hartmann, because she no longer had confidence in the ability of its trustees to do what needed to be done. (I wrote on this last month here.) 

No doubt many other Ontario boards have also been found to be negligent in their public responsibilities. And, just try to imagine how much all these trustees are costing — money that could be going to school resources — such as membership fees in their associations, their stipends, attendance at conferences and retreats and mileage.

Back in 1995, when I was working for an Ontario PC MPP, the Mike Harris government had to take away Board of Education taxing powers because of a similar “trustee” entitlement culture. At that time it was called the “Who Does What” process but, being on the inside, I can say that much of the downloading was done so as to take away the ability of boards to continually raise education property taxes.

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It somehow doesn’t seem appropriate that the Ontario Liberal Party is sending a type of recruitment letter to Ontario teachers, addressed to them personally, not at their home address, but at their school. I know this to be true because my husband received one today. It was titled “Moving Forward Together” and was linked to this website – clearly the official site of the Liberal Party of Ontario. Note also the anti-John Tory messaging.

On the top of page two the letter states:

“That’s why I’m writing you today. You can join your friends and neighbours and help us keep Ontario moving forward by making a donation to the Ontario Liberal Fund. Your tax-creditable contribution of $100, $150, $250 or an amount of your choice will be a sound investment in our province.”

And, then the letter goes on to spin the supposed Liberal accomplishments: “A Healthier Ontario,” “A Stronger Economy,” “Better Education and Training,” “Greener Communities” and “Improved Quality of Life.” It was signed by Bobby Walman, President, Ontario Liberal Fund.

What is going on here? The last time I checked there was freedom of political affiliation in this country. Yet, this type of letter would certainly have a chilling effect. For instance, how free would a teacher feel to talk about John Tory?  While one might be tempted to say, “well, no Ontario teacher is going to talk about John Tory.” That would be wrong because my husband works for a “private” school – a school that receives not a penny of taxpayers money and where many people are openly conservative.  

So, as far as I am concerned, this type of solicitation and wooing of teachers at their place of employment, is totally inappropriate. However, decisions as to whether it is more than that is for other people to decide.

But, what a double standard! Can you just imagine the reaction by teachers and the media if PC leader John Tory sent out a similar letter?

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During the October 2007 Ontario election, Canadians will no doubt remember the yelling and screaming about the John Tory proposal to provide public funding to some faith-based schools. You would have thought the sky was falling.

We were told that to provide independent schools with any amount of public money, and parents with school choice, would be divisive and, quite possibly, even destroy the public school system as we know it?

Destroy the system as we know it?  Dare I ask: Would that be such a bad thing, particularly since the system as we know it is a system entrenched in educational practices that do not necessarily meet the needs of many children? The system as we know it also means maintaining the status quo for the benefit of teachers’ unions, trustee associations and board administrations.

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As a retired educator, I recognize that teachers do a good job. As a taxpayer, I also recognize that teachers, whether elementary or secondary, are very well paid with excellent benefit packages (thanks in no small part to teachers’ unions collective agreements). And, I have always been open about the fact that both my husband and I benefit from those benefits.

However, that doesn’t mean I can’t recognize when enough should be enough, particularly given the declining enrollment in the public schools in Ontario. For example, in London Ontario, the estimates are that 1100 students will be lost to both the public and Catholic school boards in that city and that type of projection is happening all across Ontario.

So, I have been waiting (since the budget was released yesterday) to see just how the teachers’ unions would react — and for evidence of how the Ontario government was going to pay back the teachers and teachers’ unions for all their help during the recent Ontario election. Well, this morning, I got a hint of what to expect. ETFO, the elementary teachers federation, released a statement on their website titled: “Budget Allocation for Education but More Needed.” 
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While I might disagree with not spending some of the Ontario surplus on corporate and business tax relief  — to tell investors Ontario is open for business and new jobs – I do approve of money for skills training. When people lose their jobs, particularly those who are unskilled (corrected) but in highly paid manufacturing jobs, they need to learn new highly specialized skills for the new economy — a reality that may not always be possible.

In fact, the centerpiece of Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan’s budget yesterday was $1.5 billion for a three-year skills training program. My hope is that it is not money wasted. My hope is that whoever is given these funds to develop and provide skills training programs does their homework. And, what I mean by homework is that a thorough workplace and economic analysis be done to find out what jobs are needed now and in the near future. Far too often in the past, people have been retrained in skills that were obsolete by the time they got their training finished.
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I both agree and disagree with former Mike Harris Education Minister, John Snobelen on issues in his column in today’s Toronto Sun.  I agree that the Dalton McGuinty government has achieved peace in our schools by giving in to most, if not all, teachers’ unions demands. I disagree, however, that teacher-librarians are not really needed in school libraries. 

That is a very shortsighted view, to say the least but currently in line with what many school boards across Ontario, and no doubt across Canada, are trying to do — to replace teacher-librarians with library technicians. And, why are they doing that? Not for the good of the children that is for sure. They are doing it for one reason and one reason only — to save money!

Snobelen seems to be suggesting that one way to deal with this situation is through linkages to public libraries and public librarians. How is that possible when most public libraries are already being underfunded (see ‘Bye Bye Books’)by their respective municipal governments? In fact, like school libraries, most Ontario libraries have fewer qualified librarians, more library technicians and reduced library hours of service.  And, let’s not forget, there are many rural Ontario communities that don’t even have a public library within driving distance.
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This is a message to Premier Dalton McGuinty dated January 31, 2008. 

Dear Mr. McGuinty:

In a fair democratic election, you were recently re-elected as an MPP and, as the Leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario, returned to power as the Premier of Ontario. I may disagree with many of your policies but I agree with your right to win.  And, in winning, you now represent me and everyone else in this province regardless of our political preferences or differences.

Therefore, since you are now in charge of the Ontario education system, along with your appointed representative, MPP and Education Minister Kathleen Wynn, both of you should stand up and be counted. Stop the blacks-only Toronto school board decision right now. You can do it. It is within your jurisdiction to do so.

Undoing this decision is about leadership. As unpopular as it might be to some people, it would show real bravery and honesty. And, it would be completely consistent with your position during the recent election. Remember, both you and Wynn won the recent Ontario election by being against any kind of school that would be divisive and segregate people according to differences.

Specifically, you both openly campaigned against publicly funded faith-based schools and the majority of the voters of Ontario voted to return you to power — meaning the majority were obviously against such a policy. Therefore, if you are both against the blacks-only school, do the right and brave thing. Just say “no.”

Instead, according to Karen Howlett of the Globe and Mail, what seems to be happening is not leadership. On the one hand, Mr. Premier, you are saying publicly you are against the proposal, very disappointed with the decision and will not fund it. Yet, on the other hand, you are also saying that you will not stand in the way of its implementation.

This is where the rubber hits the road. This is why you, Mr. McGuinty are the Premier — the leader — the one in charge. Not only should the buck stop with you, but the hard and right decisions as well. Therefore, please do the right thing and say no to segregation and no to any kind of apartheid — no matter how well intentioned it might be.

Sincerely,
crux-of-the-Matter.com

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Most Ontarians and other Canadians will remember that the recent October 2007 Ontario election was primarily about education. Premier Dalton McGuinty frequently referred to himself as the “Education Premier” and/or his government as being about ”educational accountability.” Yet, from the 2004 election to today, whenever there is a problem in education in Ontario, someone somewhere blames everything and anything on the previous Mike Harris government.

Yet, look where Toronto is today. What did Mike Harris have to do with this particular decision? According to today’s the Toronto Star, Toronto District School Board (TDSB) staff has approved blacks-only programs that could start as early as September 2008 and a blacks-only high school by the fall of 2009 — a proposal that is just waiting for board trustee approval next Tuesday evening, January 29th.

In my post on that subject yesterday, regular visitor, Ann, left a very telling comment that I think needs to be repeated. She provides a very interesting list of all the things the McGuinty government said they would either change, improve or amend — such as the changes to the governance of the College of Teachers  which primarily benefits the profession and not the public interest. 

Ann speaks as a parent and I quote her word for word (with only a little editing for style).

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