A special report in today’s Kitchener-Waterloo Record (where there is going to be a provincial by-election soon) details the state of fundraising for public schools in the Kitchener region, as part of a Metroland Study of fundraising across the province.
The results of the investigation are not surprising to those who have followed this issue or read similar reports. In short:
Schools in affluent or better off neighbourhoods can fundraise much more and much easier than schools in poorer neighbourhoods
… and …
The funds from school fundraising are being used for important educational resources like new computers, smart boards for class rooms, books for ‘home reading programs’ and music programs.
The KW Record does a good job of providing some examples of cases where affluent schools have helped poorer schools, or examples where some poorer schools have successfully fundraised with help from local business and the local school board has a central fund that they can use to help poorer schools as well. However, I feel like these are exceptions rather than the norm … and studies have consistently shown that there is an imbalance in fundraising at schools.
Perhaps, the fact that richer schools are more able to fundraise might not be an issue if we were talking about bake sales for school dances or end of the year trips; even new playgrounds is a grey area for me. What isn’t acceptable is that fundraising is contributing to classroom education. In this way, students in more affluent schools get a leg up on other students, and they benefit from having the newest and best technology. In a society that embraces public education as a societal good, that isn’t cool.
As Catharine Fife, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association said in the article: “Fundraising is so political. It’s basically a fallout. It’s a symptom of a bigger issue in public education.” Fife and the association have been calling for review of funding formula.
The uber-awesome MPP Peter Tabuns, NDP Education Critic, addressed this saying: “You’ll see a richer educational experience for the children, and for the schools that have no money, things will be tighter. They will have less access to computers, to textbooks, what we see as integral or important parts of a good, solid education.”
The examples in the K-W Record highlight the injustice of this, contrasting a school from north Hamilton where the average parent income is only $18K compared to numerous other schools in affluent areas, which do you think were successful at fundraising?
Every student in Ontario should have equal access to the same quality education.
If schools need extra books, or new computers, or smart boards, or new brushes for the arts program, or help for the music program, etc., the funding for that should come from the education system and it should be equal regardless of the affluence of students.
And there is another argument against classroom fundraising that, as a child raised by a single mother, I know very well. ….Students who can’t afford the ‘Friday Pizza Lunch’ or the period ‘buy-out’ or can’t participate in school fundraising events get singled out. It makes them different for no other reason than they don’t have money.
And that’s wrong.
The latest sign of the decline in the Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is now the parliamentary equivalent of that person who comments “FIRST!!” after a news article or youTube video.
Some Liberal Interns camped outside a parliamentary office for 30 Hours to ensure that their amendments to bill C-38 (the budget omnibus bill) were filed first. Seen here in a CBC photo:
The Journals Office starts accepting amendments on legislation as soon as the committee report is filed in the House of Commons chamber, and the Finance Committee finished looking at C-38 late Tuesday. And since no one knew exactly when the report for the Conservative lead committee would be filed, the Liberals started camping out early Wednesday morning. Until late this morning. (Oh the life of a Liberal intern!)
The NDP filed their amendments a little later that afternoon.
Clearly the Liberals really wanted to be first in line. It mattered to them that they’re amendments would be before the NDP amendments. The intern’s time could have been spent doing Liberal Party related outreach or communications or whatever, but instead they were trying to race the NDP to the microphone. It sounds like the Libs have developed an inferiority complex, to me.
The old Liberal Party wouldn’t have cared, which is why this shows once again that the Liberals are at all-time lows!
——
Also as an aside – I wonder if those are paid interns or unpaid interns?
If they are paid interns: The Liberals just paid three interns to wait for 30 hours in a hallway. Was that from their parliamentary budget, i.e. paid for by the taxpayers? Or were these folks paid for by the Liberal Party, in which case (at minimum wage levels) the Liberals spent $1,000 on this!
If they are unpaid interns: Canada has rules against making, or letting, people work for free. Interns are an exception but the law is very clear that one of the conditions for that is that Interns must be getting career experience and training out of the deal. And that clearly wasn’t the case here.
….Um …. Awkward!