Editor’s note: The letter below is published with the permission of Dan DiRocco, a constituent of Ontario MPP Paul Calandra in the riding of Markham-Stouffville, who is also the Minister of Education. DiRocco was compelled to email his concerns to Minister Calandra as a result of the latter’s threats to abolish all democratically-elected school board trustees and the introduction of Bill 33 at Queen’s Park, which would give Calandra the legislative authority to eliminate the voice of parents through directly-elected trustees.
(LifeSiteNews) — Dear Paul,
I approve of many initiatives brought in by your conservative government in Ontario, But, honestly, I am also surprised by and not at all pleased with some other policies and decisions taken.
Among the latter have been those related to the education system. The Wynne Liberal government passed legislation and introduced regulations that in my opinion undermined parental authority or influence over local schools, including curriculum and system of governance. Many conservative supporters were disappointed that the Ford government, rather than reversing radical sex education policies and programs, instead embraced them and extended them, contrary to the popular will of Ontarians.
Now it appears that your government by introducing Bill 33 is taking another extremist step, that of eliminating local elected school trustees position. This, by extension, would harm parental authority over an essential aspect of family life, the education of their children.
I have served as a school principal and school trustee at different times. In my experience, the system put in place at the time of Confederation was a good system that allowed for growth, change and responsible governance. Bill 33 threatens to undo all that.
The Ontario system is not perfect. The system does not always function smoothly or with maximum efficiency. However, the answer to problematic aspects is not to centralize decision making, but rather to strengthen accountability at the local level. Parents must remain the ultimate authority when it comes to the education of their children.
Eliminating democratically-elected school board trustees positions is dangerous in the extreme. It represents an attack on the democratic principles which helped create Canada to begin with. Responsibility for education was placed in the provincial category for a number of very good reasons. Over the years the original property tax system was modified to reflect higher costs and inequalities that developed in different parts of the province, urban/rural etc. But parental control and engagement was maintained through the system of freely elected school board trustees.
The system of governance is old and to be revered. It is not “outdated” nor in need of radical “modernization.” What is needed is a sense of true responsibility, holding elected trustees to account, rather than abandoning the democratic approach. If all that we want is fiscal responsibility, then we can do away with elected Members of the Provincial Parliament and simply put the bureaucrats totally in charge for the sake of efficiency. Or if the provincial Ford government, like is presently the case, runs huge deficits and is likewise guilty of fiscal mismanagement, we ought to replace or eliminate the elected MPPs and put some unelected bureaucrat in charge of the economy of the province for the sake of better productivity.
No question that school board trustees and their representatives have a bias in favour of the present system, but when Alan Campbell, president of the Canadian School Boards Association, warns that “The people of Ontario need to understand that a removal of school boards is a removal of their voice when it comes to what the local public school looks like and how the local public school operates,” he is indeed correct.
Parents ought to be the grassroots controllers, able to influence local school policies and move to rid classrooms of harmful content. They can only do this by applying pressure to their locally-elected trustees or having the option of themselves running for the position of trustee to effect change at the local level.
On a more personal level, I see Bill 33 as a threat to the constitutional guarantees established in the British North America Act with respect to the continuation of Catholic schools. The distinctive nature of Ontario’s Catholic school system would eventually be undermined when unelected, non-Catholic bureaucrats run Ontario’s Catholic School Boards.
I believe that Bill 33 ought to be withdrawn or changed drastically so that its real aim becomes that of making the present system more accountable and further entrenching the primacy of parental authority and strengthening the system of local elected trustees. Parents should remain and be recognized as the best lobbyists for the educational welfare and best interests of their children. Local elections help to guarantee this.
Respectfully,
Dan Di Rocco
