"Choice" comes at a price.  When Ontario can't fund its existing schools properly, should we add news schools to the mix?

"A report released by Statistics Canada in September 2004 shows that Alberta spent more per student on the K-12 learning system than any other reporting province in 2002-03. Since then, funding has increased nearly $500 million annually. ... Alberta is also ranked number one among the provinces in terms of education spending per student and per capita." (emphasis added)

October 2004 Facts on Education Funding in Alberta, Alberta Education.

Education Equality in Ontario
 
Education Equality in Ontario is a non-governmental human rights organization and education advocacy group.  We seek the elimination of religious discrimination and duplication in the Ontario school system through the establishment of a single publicly-funded school system for each official language (English and French).
 
The Government of Ontario currently funds two parallel school systems for each official language; one a public system open to all without discrimination, and the other a "separate" system that often denies admission to non-Catholic students and is essentially closed to non-Catholic teacher applicants.  Only Roman Catholics are guaranteed access to both systems.  They alone enjoy publicly-funded school choice and they bear no additional tax burden for the privilege.  Roman Catholics in Ontario suffer no disadvantage that might warrant such preferential treatment.  By allowing this blatant discrimination to continue, the Government violates the equality rights of over seven million non-Catholic Ontarians, discriminating against them on the basis of their faith or their lack of a faith.
 
Fundamental equality rights should enjoy primacy over non-fundamental denominational privilege.  Publicly-funded choice in education and access to related employment opportunities should be non-exclusive and non-discriminatory in nature, fully respecting the equality "guarantees" in the provincial, national, and international human rights instruments that are supposed to protect us.
 
Finally, the costly duplication in the Ontario school system has been and continues to be a significant contributor to the steady decline in the quality and quantity of programs available in our publicly-funded schools, both public and separate alike.  That duplication must end so that more education dollars can make their way into classrooms, enabling all children to reach their maximum academic potential.
 
Did you know…

• The cost of running parallel school systems (public and separate) serving overlapping jurisdictions amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

• School boards across the province are now cutting staff and programs to deal with funding shortfalls while well over a million dollars per day goes up in smoke due to unnecessary duplication.

• Separate school boards have an absolute right to discriminate against non-Catholic children in admissions (until grade 9) and against non-Catholic teachers in employment (at all grade levels).

• All Ontarians bear the same tax burden, but only those of the Roman Catholic faith are guaranteed a publicly-funded school choice.

• School support designations on municipal property assessments have no effect on total school board funding, which is ultimately determined by enrolment and other documented needs.

• Canada has now been censured twice by the UN Human Rights Committee (in 1999 and again in 2005) for violating the equality rights of its own citizens by virtue of the religious discrimination in the Ontario school system.

• Of the 800,000 students bussed in Ontario every day; tens of thousands are bussed past their nearest publicly-funded school to attend another publicly-funded school.  Those children would have shorter commutes or would walk under one school system, bringing fiscal, environmental, health, and lifestyle benefits.

• The religious segregation of Ontario children results in de facto racial and ethnic segregation that further undermines the development of tolerance and respect between Ontarians of different backgrounds.

Something can be done…
 
Ontario's constitutional "obligation" to fund Roman Catholic separate schools is largely illusory, as it can be removed very quickly or can even be ignored.  Quebec, Newfoundland, and Manitoba all removed or ignored very similar constitutional "obligations" before moving to a single public school system for each official language (English and French).  The Ontario Government could easily follow their example.  They choose not to.
 
Ontarians deserve religious neutrality from their government.  Our children and our society deserve better stewardship of the funding committed to public education.
 
It is time to demand fairness and fiscal responsibility.  It is time to demand one school system for each official language (English and French).
 
What can you do?

• Spread the word about the one school system initiative.

• Sign the "One Public School System for Ontario" petition.  Petition information, petition sheets, and a document explaining the petition in detail are all available on the Petition page of this web site.

• Gather signatures for the petition and mail them to:

                    Education Equality in Ontario
                    P.O. Box 11117, Stn H
                    Ottawa, ON, K2H 7T8

• Write or email your Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) and demand action.  Letter writing ideas are available on the Letters page of this web site.  Find the contact information for your MPP on the Elections Ontario web site by entering your postal code.

• Join our supporter list or mailing list:

• Donate through the PayPal button at the top of each page or mail a cheque payable to "Education Equality in Ontario" to the address above.

 

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