Mid-Term Report: Liberals have Achieved Education Peace and Stability, But Will it Last? (Queens Park Report)

With the next provincial election set for October 2007, the Liberal government is well into the second half of its first term of office. How well is the government doing in keeping its promises? What initiatives do we anticipate in the months ahead?

Respect for teachers

A number of the Liberal election promises focused on demonstrating respect for teachers and restoring morale in the classroom. So far, the Liberal government deserves fairly high marks in keeping these commitments. Teachers applauded when Education Minister Gerard Kennedy cancelled the recertification program and, a year later, gave the axe to the Ontario teacher qualifying test.

One of the Minister’s most effective initiatives has been the establishment of the Education Partnership Table that brings together a broad representation of education stakeholders, including ETFO, to provide input into key policy directions. These are essentially no-cost initiatives, but they have helped create an atmosphere of respect in teacher-government relations.

The Liberals also promised to make the regulatory body, the Ontario College of Teachers, truly self-governing. On March 2, the Minister introduced Bill 78, an omnibus bill that proposes to add six elected teacher positions to the governing council of the OCT, a change that will improve representation for the vast majority of members who are regular classroom teachers. The bill also proposes to make teacher federation representatives ineligible to run for these elected positions. ETFO will lobby against this latter provision in the bill arguing that the government is unnecessarily interfering with the self-governance of the College.

Peace and stability in education

The government is determined to deliver on the election promise to achieve “peace and stability in our schools.” Central to this commitment was the ground-breaking provincial framework agreement that the Minister, the teacher federations, and school boards signed last April. It sets the parameters for four-year collective agreements that expire in 2008 and guarantees there will be no strikes by regular classroom teachers before the next election.

There still remains much to do, however, to ensure real peace and stability for the next two years. True peace and stability will only exist when all ETFO members have a signed collective agreement. At press time there are still some 10 OT locals without agreements in place. As well, some school administrators and boards are balking at the provisions that reduce teachers’ supervision. This problem may be solved by theProvincial Stability Commission, provided for in the provincial framework settlement.

The ongoing structural problems with the education funding formula may also threaten peace and stability. The Liberals promised to correct the “flawed” funding formula and to create a fair model to reflect the local needs of diverse communities. Since taking office, they have provided additional funds to address the needs of at-risk, English as a second-language, and special needs students, and small rural schools. They have also allocated funds to reduce primary class size and increase the number of specialist teachers.These are all areas that need attention, but the government has yet to tackle key structural problems in the formula, such as the benchmarks for teacher compensation and capital grants for building, renovating, and maintaining schools.

This structural under-funding is causing a number of larger urban school boards to go into the red. Rural and northern boards are still struggling with school closure issues. If it fails to correct the funding formula so that it reflects the actual costs school boards incur, the Liberal government could face the same situation that confronted the previous government – school boards unable to meet the legal requirement of balancing their books.

School reforms

The Liberal platform promised to replace the assessment process for identifying special needs students. The Ministry of Education recently suspended the Intensive Student Amount (ISA) process for assessing special needs students and has promised to introduce a more streamlined assessment process. This should mean a significant improvement to the workload and function of special education resource teachers.

ETFO has also lobbied for a reduction in the number of formal reporting periods and the number of curriculum expectations. The ministry has been slow to take action, but in a recent discussion paper, the government proposed to “reform” the provincial report card and reduce the number of curriculum expectations. ETFO will continue to press for quick action on these proposals.

Support for teachers

Bill 78 includes many of the long-awaited initiatives the Minister promised would be coming to support teachers. The bill, if passed, will revoke the Ontario teacher qualifying test, streamline the teacher performance appraisal process to make it less onerous for both new teachers and the evaluating principal, introduce an induction program for beginning teachers that includes mentoring. It will also enable the government to restore two of the five professional activity days eliminated by the previous Tory government.

Safe schools

To address the issue of safe schools, the Liberal platform promised to implement anti-bullying policies for students, establish a school safety hotline, and install surveillance cameras in schools where needed. In September 2005, the government announced it was moving forward with these initiatives. In addition, the Safe Schools Action Team, led by MPP Liz Sandals, held public consultations last November on a review of the Safe Schools Act. The increase in the number of student suspensions resulting from the act’s discipline provisions received much of the review’s attention.

A 2005 survey, which included ETFO members, identified harassment of teachers by students, parents, administrators and other colleagues, as a significant concern. ETFO is urging the government to go beyond the focus of student bullying and address broader school safety issues related to workplace harassment.

Challenges ahead

Clearly it is easier for governments to implement changes that simply involve cancelling an initiative like the recertification program or teacher qualifying test. Making progress with other policies that affect schools or teachers’ professional lives is more complex and costly. Repairing the structural problems of the funding formula poses challenges that, if unresolved, may unravel the coveted peace and stability the government has won to date.