With Ontario’s Minister of Education doubling down on creating chaos across the province’s school boards – and undermining local democratic control in the process – CUPE Ontario is reminding the government that Ontarians blame Conservatives’ underfunding, not school board trustees, for cuts in schools and the continuing lack of services for students.
Commenting on Minister Paul Calandra’s latest announcement of the creation of “student and family support offices” for school boards, CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn was adamant: “The move to eliminate school board trustees is typical of the Ford government playbook: distract from failings by blaming someone else.
“Minister Calandra can pretend that Ford Conservatives haven’t denied students and parents vital education funding for the services they need, but Ontarians aren’t fooled. They know the government is scapegoating school boards to divert attention from its chronic and deliberate underfunding for education.”
A recent poll by Abacus Data for CUPE Ontario confirmed that most Ontarians hold the Ford Conservatives – not their local school board trustees – responsible for the cuts to public education and the lack of support services in schools across the province.
The public opinion survey also showed that Ontarians value their trustees, who are democratically elected to represent communities’ and parents’ interests. But instead of working with trustees in the school boards it has put under supervision and ensuring that money is available for much-needed programs, the Ford government has appointed five unaccountable “school supervisors” who can bill school boards up to $350,000 a year for their services and claim up to $40,000 in expenses.
“The Ford Conservatives haven’t even been transparent about these costs that will come directly from school board budgets,” Hahn pointed out. “It took a freedom of information request from a media outlet to uncover the small detail about 40 grand in expenses.
“We can only guess at what other unwelcome surprises the Education Minister has in store for parents, students, and the people of Ontario; every week he seems to deliver a new boondoggle. But we will continue to work with those who demand accountability from this government.”