When we look at the chart above some things just jump out. Alberta, the richest province, is dead last in PPF. Shameful. BCs NDP government is too low. Look at much poorer Manitoba. In fairness, BC was number 9 when the NDP took over. Moving up to number 7, but still way too low. Ontario is in the bottom half of the chart.  This is also shameful that the three “have provinces” are all below the national average. 

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In Ontario, the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, CCPA,  estimates that we are about $1500 below 2018 levels on per student funding when you factor in enrollment growth and the staggering inflation of recent years. The Ontario budget at $37.5 Billion is $3 Billion light on what enrollment growth and inflation would indicate would still be just treading water. 

 

Today K12 education is 17% of Ontario provincial government expenditures. In my day, the 1980s, it was 25% before that 30%. At the risk of complacency, the lights are still on, but we have the beginnings of a teacher shortage in Ontario rural boards, even hitting the Toronto TDSB with substitute teachers. In 2002, the Ontario Conservative government Released the Rozanski Report which concluded that, in the $28 Billion education budget, the Harris/Eves govt had removed about $1 Billion from education and ought to restore it. Now, 22 years later, we are $3 Billion short of 2018 funding. 

 

To make matters worse, the schools are going through some sort of mental health and behavioral crisis right now. Nobody can find the handle, but it seems to have accelerated and it is congruent to the pandemic. The province protests about the costs, in a penny wise, pound foolish shrug but everybody involved understands that every dollar invested in education generates $4 of economic activity. That’s a powerful ROI for business folks and a boost for equity seeking groups as well. Who will work in the high tech research hub north of Waterloo? Must we perpetually raid talent from Bangalore India or Shenzhen China instead of graduating our own Canadian born students? 

 

The west is going through profound income polarization, This boosts poverty and poor kids need intense educational effort the most. In USA, since Reagan in 1981, with tax cuts for the rich, deregulation and privatization, there has been a $50 TRILLION transfer from the working class to the 0.1%.Canada has experienced a similar shift. We have known since the 1960s that the real problem that frustrates the education system is improving outcomes for poor kids. This becomes even more difficult when poverty is being deliberately increased,  

 

The conservative minded folk repeat this inanity that “if we just give money to the boards they will give most of it to the teachers. We want it spent in the classroom”. I wonder where they think the teachers work, in the parking lot? Could it be in the  classroom? The most crucial aspect of that classroom for the edification of the 30 kids, is the one with the big desk and the chalk up at the front. The talent, dedication, alienation, disposition and mental health of that teacher is the keystone of the entire enterprise. To be quite frank, you get what you pay for. There is a bi-national teacher shortage because  the present salary, and working conditions are inadequate.     

 

The big fear amongst progressives is this. Is underfunding a precursor to privatization, by charters, vouchers, or supports for private schools? We see this already in Ontario healthcare, first underfund, then privatize as the only solution. It likely isn’t coming soon for a few reasons. John Tory was the former Tory leader who attempted to win an election by extending support for schools, beyond catholic schools, to all religions. This proved to be incredibly poor judgment and Tory lost the election many felt he could have won.. This has stuck in the Ontario Tory mind. Privatization in education in Ontario is very unpopular, at least for now. The Red Tory culture of Ontario is risk averse. Alberta, conversely, is the privatization laboratory of Canada. We need to be watchful but not panic - at this point. 

 

In conclusion, it is axiomatic to say, “Education is expensive, but ignorance is much more expensive.”