Province must bridge gap between affluent and needy schools
TheStar.com – Opinion/Editorials – A new study from the advocacy group People for Education finds that schools aren’t providing an equal education to rich and poor kids.
Mon., June 5, 2017. Editorial
Ontario’s public education system is meant to provide an equal education for all children, regardless of their economic circumstances. But a new report from the advocacy group People for Education finds that in many ways that ideal is being undermined.
As Annie Kidder, executive director of People for Education, rightly concludes: the province is not doing nearly enough to get “public education to do what it’s supposed to do and overcome intergenerational cycles of poverty.”
That needs to be fixed. And the group’s annual report provides a valuable road map for working toward that goal.
One of the biggest barriers to equity, the group found, is fundraising. As the study points out, schools from richer neighbourhoods have a huge advantage with some able to raise up to $200,000 a year while others in poorer neighbourhoods couldn’t raise anything.
But it’s not the fundraising itself that’s the problem. It’s how the money is used. Guidelines prohibit the use of private funds to cover the costs of items that “replace public education.”
But what exactly that means remains highly ambiguous. Forty-eight per cent of elementary schools reported fundraising for learning resources such as computers, art supplies or other products or upgrades that clearly tilt the educational playing field.
That’s got to stop. A system set up to provide the same basic education for all students, regardless of their economic background, is allowing serious inequities to grow between schools in more and less affluent communities. The province must tighten the rules.
A second problem is the continued undermining of the Learning Opportunities Grant, a program meant to help vulnerable students whose families are struggling with poverty, violence or other socio-economic challenges.
The Education Ministry has consistently squandered the potential of this program. First, according to experts, the grant is underfunded. It was supposed to start off in 1997 at $400 million. Now, 20 years later, despite inflation and population growth, it still only stands at $353 million.
Second, in the past 20 years the portion spent on targeting needy students has dropped from 82 per cent of the entire grant to 47 per cent as other purposes, such as boosting test scores, took over.
With principals in disadvantaged neighbourhoods saying they have no money for breakfast or clothing programs, never mind computers and art supplies, the need the grant was created to address clearly remains great. Other programs should be funded out of other budgets.
As Kidder says, “There’s so much evidence to say if you provide targetted support — everything from smaller class sizes to guidance counsellors to breakfast programs — the kids that are less likely to do well, will do better.”
The school system should be a tool for redressing inequities, not compounding them. The People For Education report illuminates the scope of the problem and at least two potential fixes. Now it’s up to the self-proclaimed “social-justice premier” to act.
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2017/06/05/province-must-bridge-gap-between-affluent-and-needy-schools-editorial.html
Tags: ideology, participation, philanthropy, poverty, standard of living, youth
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 6th, 2017 at 9:45 am and is filed under Education Debates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
395 Responses to “Province must bridge gap between affluent and needy schools”
« Older Comments | Newer Comments »
Leave a Reply
Recent Comments
Howdy! I simply wish to give a huge thumbs up for the great information you have here on this post. I will be coming again to your weblog for extra soon.
We can see that we need to develop policies to deal with this trend.
Great blog here! Also your site loads up very fast! What web host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol
Certainly. And I have faced it. Let’s discuss this question. Here or in PM.
Co-op play lets up to four friends survive the hordes together. 496fd3d4.
Players can use the site to try Vice City without installing a desktop version. d9055c21.
Players can reroll the offered cards to find better upgrades. 449c84e7.
Great post. I was checking constantly this blog and I’m impressed! Very useful info specifically the last part 🙂 I care for such info much. I was looking for this certain information for a very long time. Thank you and good luck.
Im impressed. I dont think Ive met anyone who knows as much about this subject as you do. Youre truly well informed and very intelligent. You wrote something that people could understand and made the subject intriguing for everyone. Really, great blog youve got here.
Regards for helping out, superb info.
Great blog right here! You seem to put a significant amount of material on the site rather quickly.
Thank you for this great piece of content. Best Regards
Are grateful for this blog post, it’s tough to find good information and facts on the internet
A friend of mine advised this site. And yes. it has some useful pieces of info and I enjoyed scaning it. Therefore i would love to drop you a quick note to express my thank. Take care
Thanks for discussing the issues and covering them in a well written format.
Amazing content on your website.
With this issue, it’s important to have someone like you with something to say that really matters.
I am glad to be a visitor of this thoroughgoing web blog ! , regards for this rare information! .
Thanks for posting this. Looking for these resources 😀
Good points – – it will make a difference with my parents.