RebuildOurSchools.org 2010 Election Questionnaire
RebuildOurSchools.org is an advocacy coalition of parents and other caregivers, students, educators, education workers, education leaders, businesses and other members of the community, working together through our respective organizations and as individuals.
Our mission is to ensure that children in Toronto's public schools are educated in effective learning environments: safe, well-maintained and environmentally sustainable schools.
I. Ontario’s Education Funding Formula
Our position:
RebuildOurSchools.org believes Ontario’s education funding formula is inadequate and urgently needs to be revised by the provincial government. The current formula fails to provide sufficient funding for school boards, including TDSB, to:
Operate and maintain safe, effective learning environments and to pay teachers, administrators and education workers; Provide the range of special supports required to enable all students to succeed; Support local priorities and needs without relying on school-generated revenue; Develop schools as centres of their communities with improved accessibility, utility and benefits; and, Deliver the education our children need to succeed in a knowledge-based economy and in Ontario’s globally-competitive context, including through the provision of facilities appropriate to support needed educational programs.
Our questions:
QUESTION: What strategy and tactics will you use as an individual TDSB trustee to persuade the Ontario government to develop and implement an improved education funding formula?
ANSWER: I would meet with parents and community members to word a petition to be sent to the Premier and the Minister of education. I would encourage the constituents of Ward 14 to write, fax, visit and chat with the MPP to ensure that he understands the damage that has been done to the public education system because of the inadequate funding formula.
QUESTION: What strategy and tactics should the Board use for this purpose?
ANSWER: The Board should meet with the Premier and Minister of Education. Senior staff at the Board should be tasked to prepare a report with the facts and figures to be given to the Ontario government detailing what is needed to ensure that we have a funding formula that is appropriate for the needs of our students.
II. School Renewal Funding
Our position:
RebuildOurSchools.org recognizes TDSB’s school renewal backlog of $2.8 billion as of April 13, 2010, rising to $3.5 billion by 2015. This backlog is the difference between available funding for school renewal and the repair, renovation and reconstruction needs of the Board’s 529 school buildings. We believe this backlog impedes the Board from providing and maintaining safe, effective learning environments. The Ontario government’s Good Places to Learn school renewal program, which provided $413 million to TDSB from 2005-09, was cancelled in the 2010 Ontario Budget.
Our questions:
QUESTION: As an individual TDSB trustee, how will you work to address the school renewal backlog – and specifically, to persuade the Ontario government to restore a school renewal funding program?
ANSWER: The Ontario government must be made to understand that restoring a school renewal funding program is vital to the success of the education system in the province. It may possibly become an election issue.
QUESTION: As an individual TDSB trustee, will you endorse, support and work with RebuildOurSchools.org in our school renewal funding advocacy efforts focused on the Ontario government? ANSWER: Yes. I will work with any organization that has the best interest of all our students at heart.
Our position:
School boards including TDSB are allowed by the province to respond to the inadequacy of the education funding formula by deferring maintenance on a year-by-year basis – that is, they can allow the state of repair of the schools to deteriorate as a cost-saving measure, and apply funds intended to maintain, repair and renew schools to education programs and other operational needs. In 2010, TDSB trustees voted to defer $30 million in maintenance. They deferred $37 million in 2009 and comparable amounts in previous years.
RebuildOurSchools.org is gravely concerned that deferral of maintenance is causing a rapid deterioration in the state of repair of Toronto’s public schools. Putting off maintenance and repair contributes to the school renewal backlog and worsens existing problems, increasing the cost of renewal when eventually undertaken. We believe deferral of maintenance compromises TDSB’s obligation to provide safe, effective learning environments, and threatens the health and safety of students, teachers, education workers and all others in our schools.
Our questions:
QUESTION: As a TDSB trustee, will you support or oppose the deferral of maintenance in the 2011 TDSB Budget? ANSWER: As a TDSB trustee, I would oppose the deferral of maintenance in the 2011 TDSB Budget.
IV. Understanding and Prioritizing Safe, Effective Learning Environments
Our position: RebuildOurSchools.org is concerned that TDSB trustees are not adequately informed about the physical condition of the schools in their wards, the renewal backlog for each individual school, and the impact on the quality of the learning environment. We urge trustees to improve their familiarity with and understanding of the state of repair of the schools in their wards, and to prioritize safe, effective learning environments. We further urge trustees to report regularly to their ward councils and individual school councils on the state of repair and renewal backlog in the schools in their wards.
QUESTION: As a TDSB trustee, will you visit each school in your ward within the first year of your term, and obtain a detailed briefing on the state of repair and renewal backlog of each school building? ANSWER: Yes. I know that it is important for trustees to keep up to date with the state of repair of the schools in their wards to ensure that those schools are safe for students, staff and community members who use the schools.
QUESTION: As a TDSB trustee, will you conduct regular meetings with your ward councils and/or individual school councils and include in these meetings reports, discussion and consultation on the state of repair and renewal backlog in the schools in your ward? ANSWER: Yes. As a former school council representative on Ward council I know how important it is for parents, staff and community to have an opportunity for regular dialogue with the trustee on various issues.
QUESTION: What other initiatives and commitments will you undertake to prioritize and achieve safe, effective learning environments in TDSB schools?
ANSWER: While academic excellence through achievement in literacy, mathematics and the sciences is very important there are other programs like sports, choir/music, drama, visual arts that not only enrich our lives, but which may also be areas where many of our students excel. I would encourage and support the arts, athletics and music to ensure that students receive a well-rounded education. I would also encourage intergenerational interaction especially with our senior citizens and our very young students. Our schools should be community hubs, encouraging the use of schools by groups like Girl Guides of Canada.
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QUESTIONS FROM INSIDETORONTO.COM
QUESTION: Why are you the best candidate for trustee?
ANSWER:I have been involved as an advocate for parents and students at the Toronto Board of Education and the Toronto District School Board for more than 20 years. I have shown leadership as an education activist who co-chaired the Parent Community Network and Campaign for Public Education during the amalgamation and “common sense revolution” of the former Ontario government’s attempt to establish a voucher system that would have diverted resources and students away from the public school system. We strategised and resisted mightily and successfully. I will advocate for sustainable, adequate funding. I need your support on Oct. 25.
QUESTION: What changes would you like to see at the school board in the next four years?
ANSWER:I would advocate for and actively support a change in the funding formula which in its present state is woefully inadequate. The cost of living and the diversity of the population is not uniform across Ontario so the funding formula should not be a one size fits all. I would encourage intergenerational interaction especially with our senior citizens and our very young students. I would also encourage and support the arts, athletics and music to ensure that students receive a well-rounded education. Our schools should be community hubs, encouraging the use of schools by groups like Girl Guides of Canada.
QUESTION: What is your position on the TDSB consolidating under-enrolled schools and selling off closed school properties?
ANSWER:I do not agree with the TDSB shutting down schools and selling the land to developers. The population of Toronto fluctuates because we are an attractive destination for newcomers from other countries as well as people from other provinces. Selling taxpayer-funded land to private developers is short-sighted. Temporarily under-enrolled schools can be used as community neighbourhood hubs, with extra space rented out for other community purposes such as seniors’ centres, daycare and recreation spaces. When the population demographic of a particular area changes; people with school age children will want local neighbourhood schools that are within walking distance.
QUESTION:Do you support the province’s decision to try to negotiate two-year, no wage increase contracts with the school board’s unionized employees when existing agreements expire, including those with the school board’s unionized employees?
ANSWER:No! Workers have a right to collective bargaining. In June 2007 the Supreme Court of Canada extensively reviewed the rationale for regarding collective bargaining as a human right. The Court made several observations; including: The right to bargain collectively with an employer enhances the human dignity, liberty and autonomy of workers by giving them the opportunity to influence the establishment of workplace rules and thereby gain some control over a major aspect of their lives, namely their work. The province should not seek to balance its budget on the backs of working people while reducing taxes for large corporations.
Please provide personal details on your bio.
I have lived in Toronto for more than 20 years and have been involved in advocacy and activism in various spheres including education. I have served as President of the Board of Directors at Central Neighbourhood House (CNH). I worked for the TDSB as an International Languages Instructor and as a member of CUPE 4400 served as Steward Co-ordinator and Steward. I also served as a member of the Board of governors at the University of Toronto. I write a weekly column for Share newspaper and am a programmer at CKLN 88.1FM on Tuesday Word of Mouth and Frequency Feminisms.
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