June 16, 2006 Highlights
On this page:
- Long-Awaited School Board Grants Announced
- EQAO Secondary Literacy Results Released
- MPPs Speak to Importance of Electing Women
- Legislature Supports Establishing an “Arts Education Week”
- Latest Poll Shows Provincial Liberals Maintain Lead
1. Long-Awaited School Board Grants Announced
On June 12 the Ministry of Education released the details of the grants to school boards for the 2006-07 school year. The grants will be increased to $17.5 billion, an increase of $600 million as previously announced in the provincial budget. Also as announced in the budget, there will be an additional $200 million allocated outside the grants to “target improved literacy and math levels, French-language programs and professional development for teachers and principals.”
The additional funding will support the government’s policy to reduce primary class size, increase the number of specialist teachers at the elementary level, increase the number of Student Success teachers in secondary schools who work with students at risk of failing or dropping out, and enhance support for French-language school boards.
The funding structure is changing so that all schools will be funded to support principals, vice-principals, school secretaries, and school supplies on a “per school” basis rather than on a “per student” basis. This will mean that smaller schools will be guaranteed basic administrative support. The Ministry reports it is spending an additional $35 million to implement this School Foundation Grant.
The grants also address the gap between the teacher salary benchmarks in the funding formula and the actual salaries that boards pay teachers. The Ministry reports the gap to be 8.3% and claims the 2006-07 grants close the gap. This issue has been a major structural problem in the grants, forcing school boards to allocate funding designated for other expenditures to salaries.
Capital funding includes targeted support for smaller primary class sizes, new and replacement schools, and the Best Start programs located in schools.
The Ministry announced that reforms to special education and transportation funding are also planned.
To see the ETFO response to the announcement, click on this link: Media Release: Elementary Teachers Welcome Funding Announcement - June 12, 2006
2. EQAO Secondary Literacy Results Released
On June 14 the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) released the results of the Grade 10 literacy tests conducted in March of this year. Eighty-four percent of English-language and 81% of Francophone students passed the test. Education Minister Sandra Pupatello lauded the improvement in the test results and outlined the government initiatives designed to support improved student achievement, particularly the performance of those students struggling to succeed.
PC Education Critic Frank Klees used the EQAO announcement to take credit, on behalf of his party, for the province-wide tests: “The fact that Ontario students continue to show improvement in these literacy tests is proof positive that the implementation of the EQAO tests was the right thing to do. I’m glad to see that even the McGuinty government recognizes the value of these tests as a measurement of student achievement.”
Mr. Klees further expressed concern about government interference in the EQAO: “My only concern is that they don’t interfere with the integrity and independence of the EQAO in an attempt to compromise those standards and lower the standards of those tests…”
3. MPPs Speak to Importance of Electing Women
On June 14 all three party leaders spoke in the Legislature about the importance of electing more women to political office and of the need to do more. Their speeches were followed by a news conference called by Equal Voice, the advocacy organization that promotes greater female representation in politics. Women currently hold 24 out of 103 seats in the Ontario legislature.
Premier Dalton McGuinty remarked that the percentage of women in the Liberal caucus had increased from 6% in 1985 to 24% today. “What’s more, almost one third of our cabinet ministers are women,” he stated.
PC Leader John Tory stated:
“Our candidate search rules have made very clear my own determination that we simply have to do better, for our own party to succeed and I believe, on an all-party basis as well.” He further stated: “I think we’re going to have [to] hard work not just to get the candidates but to get them elected because I think it will make a fundamental difference to the legitimacy of this place. It will make a fundamental difference to the quality of the laws that we pass.”
NDP Leader reported that his part has adopted a policy of “freezing nominations until there is a member of an affirmative action community, i.e., women, seeking the nomination.” He added: “We also decided to provide financial support to all our women candidates through the Agnes McPhail fund.”
4. Legislature Supports Establishing an “Arts Education Week”
On June 15 MPPs debated Liberal MPP Jennifer Mossop’s Private Member’s Bill that proposes designating a week in October as “Arts in Education Week.” While MPPs supported the principle of promoting the value of arts education, Opposition MPPs argued the government needed to do more in terms of increasing funding to arts programs in schools and to the arts in general. NDP MPP Rosario Marchese pointed out that the government had cut arts funding by $100 million.
The bill passed the Second Reading vote and was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Policy for review.
5. Latest Poll Shows Provincial Liberals Maintain Lead
The latest public opinion poll conducted by SES Research between May 30 and June 2, 2006 indicates the following support among decided Ontario voters: Liberals – 43%; PC - 35%; NDP – 17%; and Green Party – 5%. Fourteen percentage of those polled were undecided.
For more information go to www.ontla.on.ca