Late last week, the youngest of our four children walked across the stage at his high school graduation. As for so many families, this is a milestone – celebrating accomplishments and the journey beyond high school that is about to begin. Our oldest child started junior kindergarten 21 years ago this fall – needless to say that in that time we have experienced a lot of Ontario’s public education system. This column was 21 years in the making and is a reflection of our experiences and the experiences of some of the people we’ve met on our children’s education journey.
Ontario’s education system is fundamentally broken. It is cumbersome, bloated, top-heavy, politically-oriented, and in need of a massive reboot.
Students succeed despite the encumbrances of this public education system, not because of it. Some students sadly do not succeed, and that is mostly the blame of the system.
There are many great teachers that play a vital role in student success. Our family has been fortunate that each of our kids have benefitted from great teachers. But not all experiences are the same.
Students and families are responsible for their education as well and the old adage of you get out what you put in is appropriate. Families cannot be faulted for having difficulty navigating the bureaucracy and hypocrisy of the public education system.
Ontario needs extensive reform to the structure of the education system. The province cannot financially sustain four publicly-funded systems which teach the same provincially-regulated curriculum. Something needs to fundamentally change in this system in order for it to improve for students. There are fewer students, and declining enrolment, at some point – something has to give.
Ontario’s education system clings to centuries-old political boundaries for school boards, ignoring geographic synergies. It promotes a culture of administrative bloat, where executives and senior staff are cloistered off to foment, disconnected from the people their jobs are to support – students.
Education is woefully underfunded in Ontario. Used as a political tool, governments for over 150 years have legislated and regulated the system to align with their interests, not to the best interests of students. What students learn is decided by politicians, not educators. They become the test subjects for political ideas. When a new party is voted into power, the system changes again. Ideology drives education policy.
Government funding is at the whim of the party in power, and the groups that the government is trying to woo for reelection. Building new shiny schools is great for attracting families of voters – yet the funding is not provided to staff those schools properly.
The education system is behind in how it deals with mental health – of students and school staff. If someone has a physical disability, they are reasonably-well supported. If that disability involves mental health – because it cannot be physically seen at all times it is easy to ignore or not be taken seriously.
In the past 21 years, I have observed that mental health support has improved, but it is still very inconsistent. Families have to fight and battle the system to get any kind of help with diagnosis or recognized support. This sounds overly dramatic, but I assure you it is not. Some students who should have full-time support from an educational assistant receive fractional support.
Fractional support, as it was explained to me in an example is receiving three-quarters of an Educational Assistant support for one-half of a period. Even with my math skills, I know that simplifies to three-eighths of a period. That is all when a student should have all-day support. Even those students who do not need full-time direct support, who can navigate life in school reasonably well, receive forms to fill out and paper to be pushed. Maybe some software, if you’re lucky.
For families who are just starting their journey of diagnosing potential neuro-atypical-ness – or as I heard recently “neuro-spicyness” – there is no clear pathway for help. There is bureaucracy, which is the last thing needed when you think something is challenging for your child.
I graduated high school nearly 30 years ago. Back then, bullying was physical, or gossip. I – and I don’t think many others in my cohort – wouldn’t be able to handle being a student in school now. Bullying is in many forms now. Instead of just gossip in the school, which you could leave behind you when you went home, now it follows you. Online – especially social media – follows you everywhere. Kids leaving school can’t escape it. More support is needed. Not just for those who are dealing with these issues, also in policing it.
School boards all have zero tolerance policies – which is a crock. Instead of dealing with bullying internally with suspensions and redirection programs, it should be dealt with externally. Call a spade a spade. Bullying is Criminal Harassment. I can almost guarantee that bullying would decrease if criminal investigations and charges were used as a serious deterrent.
Burdensome over administration is one of the biggest problems in Ontario education. The current structure of school boards is the result of amalgamation 27 years ago. Consolidating school boards at the time was supposed to limit administration, putting more focus on teaching students than pushing paper. Instead, administration costs have never been higher. There are directors, executive superintendents, superintendent, and board principals – none of whom are in the classroom or in schools. Add in the consultants, and all the staff and assistants that have nothing to do with educating students. All that administration comes at a cost. Pay increases are higher than the average, greatly exceeding the inflation rate. Some pay increases for executives have gone up as high as 50 per cent in one year. No explanation is given about why executives warrant such a staggering pay increase either. Privacy laws prevent that answer from being revealed.
We do not get to see all the expenses that happen in administration – journalists only have that Sunshine List to go by. If the bloated administration costs of a school board could be cut in half, and that money saved spent on students in schools, imagine the success that would happen!
One should never point out a problem without also having a solution. I have a few to offer, none of which need constitutional amendments to implement.
Stable funding needs to be in place for education. That funding needs to be free from meddling by politicians.
Eliminate school boards entirely. The Ministry of Education already sets the curriculum which boards must implement. It sets the budgets and funding. Get rid of the “middle men” and have the ministry operate the schools. Yes, eliminating school boards means there are no longer elected trustees – that is a good thing. Trustees are a de-facto rubber stamp for administration, which is just implementing provincial policy anyway.
Make school programs uniform and accessible. Right now too many students move schools because school boards have program inequality. There are have and have-not schools. If an area is going to offer French-Immersion, offer it to all schools. By not offering the same programming in all schools, certain schools are set up to fail. It’s happened before, and left unchanged we will see it again.
While most teachers are great and in the profession for the right reason, something must be done to pull the chafe from the wheat. Unions allow for too much protection for those who are bad at their job.
Lastly, the resources need to be in the classroom. If a student needs an EA, assign them one. Give students the people and things they need to be successful. The money spent or invested now will pay off dividends for a lifetime.
I am a firm believer in a public education system. A good public education system opens doors and provides opportunity for everyone. Despite its flaws, there are so many successes that result from it. School isn’t rosy for everyone. Addressing these issues and implementing long-overdue reform will take this broken system, and make it a good system for every student.
This column was originally printed in the July 3, 2024 print edition of The Morrisburg Leader.
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