Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra has been musing about potential school board reforms for months. Last week, he finally ended the suspense with broad-based legislation to make school board governance more accountable, improve financial management and strengthen student achievement.
There is little doubt that significant change was needed. Questionable financial and governance decisions by too many trustees had caused the provincial government to place eight school boards under an appointed provincial supervisor to run things.
In the words of Toronto Star columnist, Martin Regg Cohn, “never before have so many school boards been so dysfunctional and school trustees so discredited.”
Calandra had speculated about scrapping school trustees completely but instead settled for reducing their discretionary expenses and honorariums, capping the maximum number of trustees at 12 per board and increasing oversight of their use of public funds.
There will now be a Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) with business and financial expertise to actually run each board and set budgets, a welcome improvement. And while trustees will hire that person, only the education minister can approve firing the individual. The legislation will also give the education minister the ability to intervene if trustees and the CEO cannot agree on setting final budgets.
Another welcome improvement is introducing a Chief Education Officer for each board, someone who must hold teacher and supervisory office certification. It will be that individual’s job to oversee and focus on student achievement.
That increased focus on achievement is badly needed, given the province’s overall student results on provincial and international tests. Data shows that a contributing factor to poor results may well be decreasing student attendance. The numbers released by Calandra, were to say the least, shocking.
Just 40 percent of high school students meet the attendance standard of being in the classroom 90 percent of the time. Grade 12 students have the lowest attendance with just a third attending class 90 percent of the time. While COVID is largely to blame for the initial declines in past years, the trend appears to be getting worse.
Students cannot be expected to learn if they don’t show up. And while there are often reasons for a student to be away, for example, illness or family disruption, it is highly unlikely that Calandra’s – and parents’ – goal of improved student achievement will be achieved if the issue is not addressed.
Some of the usual critics immediately piled on of course, with the complaint that the problem can only be solved if we spend more money on mental health and family supports. Ensuring appropriate resources are no doubt one piece of the solution. And Calandra’s newly introduced financial management tools should help focus board resources where they are most needed.
But setting expectations is also important. Under the new rules, attendance will now count for 10 to 15 percent of a high school student’s final grade in each subject. To those criticizing the move, Calandra said the idea “came exclusively from my engagement with teachers. It wasn’t on my radar at all…when I took over the position…I’m very confident that teachers understand their students.”
Another new expectation will be actual exams in most secondary courses, scheduled during a specified exam period. Many school boards had stopped holding them or had been using widely different evaluation systems or had stopped the practice altogether.
Again, the move was supported by teachers. Martha Hradowy, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation called it “a welcome announcement.”
Some boards “had moved away from final assessments and students had the ability to hand in all their assignments on the last day of class…..there were no consequences for late assignments or anything like that…it was extremely frustrating for our members,” she said.
With four separate school board systems – public, Catholic public, French public and French Catholic – how this actually rolls out will be complicated. Glitches will arise which the government will need to fix. But major steps have been taken in the right direction.
Janet Ecker is a former Ontario Finance Minister, Minister of Education, Minister of Community and Social Services and Government House Leader in the governments of Premier Mike Harris and Premier Ernie Eves. After her political career, she served as the founding CEO of the Toronto Financial Services Alliance, a public-private partnership dedicated to building Toronto region into an international financial centre. She currently sits on a number of corporate and non-profit boards, agencies and advisory committees.
Ms. Ecker received the Order of Canada for her public service contributions and was recognized as one of the “Most Influential People in the World’s Financial Centres” by Financial Centres International. She also received a “Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award” from the Women’s Executive Network and the Richard Ivey School of Business, among other awards. She is also one of the founders of Equal Voice, a national, multi-partisan organization working to elect more women.
