Thank you, Speaker. I’m a little surprised that the member opposite doesn’t understand the connection between school violence and children’s capacity to learn reading, writing and literacy in our schools and what this might have to do with school boards. I am surprised, but—

After traumatic episodes of violence and lockdowns, students are just supposed to go back to the classroom, back to learning without any mental health support. Violence is on the rise in school, and the majority of principals and vice-principals within our school boards attribute this to a lack of staffing, support and resources.

The TDSB has a staffing crisis, and students, teachers, parents, and education workers are feeling the pinch. But because of this government’s unwillingness to reimburse them for the $70 million that they had to pay to protect kids during the pandemic, they will be forced to cut even more staff, including child and youth workers and safety monitors. This is only going to make matters worse for our kids.

Don’t our kids deserve to feel safe at school? Don’t they deserve mental health supports in school?

This violence is not just limited to the TDSB. Violent incidents are happening at crisis levels across the province.

In London-area schools, reports by the ETFO Thames Valley District School Board show that there are an average of 636 violent incidents a month. This doesn’t even account for the majority of violent incidents that go unreported. In some cases, kids are even being sent to the hospital with severe injuries.

These are not just incidents occurring among students. Teachers and education workers are met with violence daily.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario is looking into violence against teachers and in schools to see if it will help this government understand the gravity of the situation.

Karen Brown, ETFO’s president, said, “Many school spaces are not safe, especially for those working on the front lines with students whose needs are not being met. We hope the data collected will finally convince this government to take action to address the unacceptable and troubling rise of violence in schools.”

I heard the same thing from Ottawa OECTA teachers last week. The number of violent incidents are rising, but because there’s pressure on teachers not to even report violence, what we know is just a drop in the bucket.

Teachers and education workers have been calling on this government to hire more mental health support staff and provide anti-violence training for the teachers and staff already working in our schools. They’ve been asking this government to work with them. The solutions are there, but instead, the government provides us with legislation that does nothing to address this. Our kids cannot succeed in math and literacy if they do not feel safe in our schools.

In my riding of Ottawa West–Nepean, I’ve heard from several parents and teachers about how their kids don’t feel safe at Pinecrest Public School. The parents who have reached out did not feel comfortable sharing their names, but in speaking with them, it’s clear that these are not isolated incidents. Once again, this is rooted in the lack of mental health supports available to our kids. Pinecrest is a K-to-8 school and is just one of many public schools in Ottawa that has had to cancel classes as a result of being short-staffed. One of my constituents has a six-year-old grandson at Pinecrest. In two months, her grandson’s homeroom has had three different supply staff, resulting in no consistency and a continuous lack of support for him and his classmates. In February, the students’ parents received an email from their principal informing them that, because of absenteeism, their classes would be cancelled for at least two days. Imagine being in this situation, trying to scramble to see whether you can find child care for your kids or whether you may have to bring them to work with you the following day. This woman was lucky that she was in a position where she could look after her grandson for a few days while his classes were cancelled.

After continued disruption from the pandemic, this government’s underfunding is resulting in our kids being out of the classroom once again.

Our kids are in crowded classrooms, not getting the supports they need, with teacher and education worker shortages. They’re in a mental health crisis, but schools don’t have the resources to address it, and they’re not feeling safe at schools because of rising violence due to the mental health crisis and the shortage of workers. And what does the minister think is the appropriate response to this situation? A fire sale of school properties. Instead of investments in mental health supports and smaller class sizes, Bill 98 is giving the minister the power to compel school boards to sell school buildings and land to any individual the minister designates, at any price the minister designates. This is the same government whose cozy relationship with developers always somehow seems to cost the taxpayer money while resulting in sweetheart deals for developers—

Thank you, Speaker.

Surely, if the sole desire here was to make sure that every child can attend school in their local community regardless of what board they’re in, the regulations on selling or transferring schools could just be limited to school boards.

What we actually need more than the sell-off of publicly held land to private, for-profit corporations is investments to address the repair backlog so that our children can learn in a safe environment. The school repair backlog is currently well over $16 billion; we don’t know by how much because the government stopped publicly reporting on this figure. But we know that committing only $1.4 billion a year to building new schools and repairing existing schools means that the backlog is going to continue to grow instead of shrink.

Our kids are trying to learn in schools that are not in good repair, including schools that are not fully air-conditioned. When the temperatures hit 30 degrees in Ottawa last week, one of the first things I thought of was the poor teachers and students on the second floor of my children’s un-air-conditioned school. Usually it’s not until late May or early June that the temperatures get that high. I’ve sent my kids to school in the past thinking, “Well, they’re not going to learn anything today. They’re going to be lucky to survive.” Teachers have had to employ creative strategies, including bringing Popsicles to school that they’ve paid for out of their own pockets, and cycling kids through the gym and the learning commons, which have air conditioning. These are our children’s learning conditions.

The government has said over and over again that this legislation is based on what they have been hearing from parents, but I don’t buy it. I have had countless emails come through my inbox since even just the start of this year from parents voicing their concerns with the direction that public education is going. When boards were raising issues about reimbursing COVID relief funds, the emails were pouring in. When the budget was tabled with no real inflationary increases for education included, the emails were pouring in. Since Sunday, the emails have been pouring in again.

Parents who are scared about what this legislation will mean, educators concerned with the Grants for Student Needs numbers all want to know who exactly has been consulted in the creation of this bill—who are the stakeholders that were involved? We know that it wasn’t any of the teachers and education unions, because they were very clear that they were caught completely off guard by this legislation. That’s incredibly insulting when the ministry is in bargaining with these teachers. That’s not how you build a respectful relationship.

Cara Kane, a parent in my riding of Ottawa West–Nepean, sent me an email yesterday with her concerns about this bill and whose interests it represents. She said, “Firstly, it is quite bothersome to state that this is in response to what parents want ... how does he know what we want? What is he basing this off of? There has been no public consultation whatsoever with parents on this proposed bill. I want my child to go through this world as a kind person, who respects equity and diversity, who advocates for the community and stands up to bigotry, who explores her passions in a supportive environment, whatever they may be—whether it’s math and science, or art and literature, or anything in between. I fear this bill is woefully out of touch with what parents actually want for our children, and there is absolutely no way for the minister to know this without actually engaging in a public consultation process that include the voices of all parents. I am also deeply concerned about the bill’s new powers, which would require boards of education to report to the minister on these outcomes and provide the minister with the power to dissolve boards and appoint a provincial supervisor in the place of trustees. Communities vote for trustees—having a provincially appointed supervisor who has no relationship to/with the community, no understanding of what the school and community needs or values, and is not elected is insulting at best, and dangerous at worst.”

What we needed to see from the minister this week was a significant investment in our schools, one that actually accounted for inflation and for all of the massive challenges that our children are dealing with—a plan that actually provided for smaller class sizes; a plan that actually put more teachers and education workers in every school so that every child could get the supports they need from caring adults in their classroom; un plan pour résoudre la pénurie d’enseignants et d’enseignantes dans le système d’éducation de langue française; a plan that made significant investments in mental health, so that every school in Ontario would have access to at least one regularly scheduled mental health professional; a plan that actually tackled the root causes of violence by providing mental health supports and increasing staffing levels; a plan that made sure that all of our children are in safe and supported learning environments by clearing the repair backlog; a plan that provided critical supports for our most vulnerable learners—students with disabilities and accessibility needs; a plan that adequately funds special education; a transition plan for the autism legacy kids; a plan that makes significant investments and provides transparency and accountability to our provincial and demonstration schools.

Instead of that, what we have is a communications exercise that seems largely designed to deflect blame. And what is frustrating is that once again it is our children who pay the price for this minister’s intransigence and this government’s underfunding, just as they have paid the price throughout the past three years.

It is time for the minister to finally accept some responsibility, to finally make the investments that our children so desperately need, and to finally come up with a plan that actually provides our children—every child in Ontario—with the supports that they need to thrive and flourish.

Thanks for that great question.

What we’ve seen is that kids who have been in therapy full-time for the past five years are being transitioned abruptly to schools with no support or coordination, no kind of plan. These kids, in some cases, are non-verbal, won’t even be able to understand what is happening. Many of them are flight risks or safety risks. And yet, there are no additional supports to schools to actually keep these kids safe. What the parents of autism children are saying is that this is going to be absolute chaos and set these children—

I want to thank the member from Oakville North–Burlington. She’s a school building machine—five schools in four years. Amazing. She’s a strong advocate for the people of Oakville North–Burlington.

Mr. Speaker, while in Halton region we have wonderful municipal partners to work with us to get schools built in anywhere between one to three years, in many of our communities it takes upwards of a decade to build a school. That’s going to come to an end.

The Premier is committed to getting on with streamlining and overhauling our capital approval process so we build where the growth is.

We have 300,000 people, according to federal immigration targets, coming next year and every year.

We have to work harder and smarter to build better for our kids.

This plan in the legislation allows us to streamline approvals, enables joint-use projects with community, allows school boards to work together and collaborate to share their assets for educational purposes. It enables us to build through a $14-billion capital plan to renew schools and build new schools for the future.

Ukrainians are fleeing a war zone due to Vladimir Putin’s genocidal war—an illegal war that has created so much impact on so many people around the world.

Canada has opened our arms, Ontario has opened our arms, and in our education system, through the most recent funding announcement, we have reaffirmed to school boards that we will fund every Ukrainian child who comes through our country to have free, publicly funded education. We are extending subsidies and daycare for their mothers, their parents and guardians. We are ensuring mental health supports in their language through a partnership with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. We are working together to make sure that those children who have faced so much trauma and affliction have the supports and the confidence that they can succeed in this country.

My question is for the Minister of Education.

Over the past decade, Ontario’s population has grown rapidly. This means that more families now call Ontario home, and more children have enrolled into our publicly funded education system.

The previous Liberal government failed to plan for the future and shamefully closed 600 schools at a time when they should have addressed the growth in our province.

I am hearing concerns from parents about the importance of their children being able to attend a school near them. Families are counting on our government to take action when it comes to providing top-quality schools for their children.

Can the minister please explain how our government is ensuring that new and existing schools will address future growth needs?

Strong public education and a sustainable school infrastructure system are fundamental in meeting the needs of growing communities like mine in Oakville North–Burlington and across Ontario.

Across our province, many communities continue to welcome and embrace Ukrainian refugees who are fleeing persecution and war in their home country. In our local schools, Ukrainian children have been welcomed into classrooms, where they are receiving a top-quality education in communities that they now call home.

Can the minister please explain how our government is supporting our schools to provide a safe and welcoming environment for Ukrainian children and their families?

I’m glad to see that my students from Scarborough Southwest are here today.

My question is to the Minister of Education.

Schools in Scarborough Southwest are literally falling apart, and it is unacceptable that, despite the urgent facility needs identified by schools and school boards, our children are forced to learn in poorly equipped classrooms.

Speaker, this government claims to be making historic investments while simultaneously committing less than inflation and underspending their education budget by hundreds of millions of dollars.

My question is, how will this government address the backlog of repairs that we have across the province and ensure that our children are in safe and well-equipped classrooms?

Speaker, not only are our schools crumbling, but the government’s continued underfunding of our education system is leading to cuts in teachers and education workers. These cuts have resulted in oversized classrooms, inadequate specialized learning programs, and a lack of mental health support. This has a direct and detrimental impact on our children’s education.

So my question is, again, will this government provide our children with the support that they need, instead of putting pressure on our already underfunded education system?

Thank you very much. Listen, that’s what is actually enshrined in this bill. We’re upping Grants for Student Needs by $700 million. We’re putting $15 billion into capital projects. And we’re hiring more teachers with specializations to be able to teach these classes.

We look at the ideology that was perpetrated by the previous Liberal government that closed these programs, and, quite frankly, in a minority government, it was support by the NDP. I do find it a little bit strange that they would stand up and pontificate on those types of things when it is this Conservative government that is actually making the necessary investments, that is working with our schools and our school boards to make sure that we are hiring qualified teachers to teach these programs and to make sure that we have the ability to have the spaces for these in our schools.

I want to thank my colleagues from Kitchener–Conestoga and Newmarket–Aurora for their comments, and I wanted to direct a question to the member from Newmarket–Aurora. Also, the member from Kitchener–Conestoga had mentioned this, but you did as well, member from Newmarket–Aurora, talking about parents and how frustrated they’ve been with some of the issues that come up with schools and school boards and trying to actually have an influence on what’s happening with the education of their children in our schools. I certainly hear a lot of that from my constituents. Also, as a parent of children, I know that that’s something that we’ve experienced ourselves, and I know both you and the member from Kitchener–Conestoga mentioned that you had.

Can you just talk a little bit more about what you’ve heard from constituents and why you think this legislation is going to help?

Thank you to the members for their comments. I’m sorry to say, the member for Kitchener–Conestoga was not nearly as entertaining as the member for Timiskaming–Cochrane, but the member for Newmarket–Aurora sure was there at the end.

A question for the member for Kitchener–Conestoga: I’m glad to hear of your interest in school safety, your support for shop class. But what we’re seeing from this government is a lack of investments to actually keep our kids safe in schools, along with a lack of investments to actually provide them this tech education that has been promised.

Every student is going to be required to take a tech class, but we don’t have enough tech teachers even for the number of classes that are offered now. Many schools have no shop space anymore or a computer lab. They’re going to need to set that up in order to offer a tech credit. If there’s no funding attached, then they’re not going to be able to do that safely and to do that well. I feel like that’s this whole bill. It’s a grand set of priorities with no plan to get from here to there and no resources to actually do it.

Would the member support actually putting the resources towards school safety and tech classes?

It’s a great question. I know many of us, obviously, are parents here. I think there’s some room for improvement. Certainly, our educators do a fantastic job, but there’s always room to improve.

When I look at the breakdown of my children, I have two in high school, one who’s going into middle school next year and then two more in primary grades. It’s very interesting to see the level of engagement with their teachers and educators but more so with the way that the boards administer each of the schools.

I know I talked a lot about it in my remarks, but I’m really starting to see some streamlining and making the boards accountable for what they’re doing and how they’re planning things out within the different schools, certainly within our school board at Waterloo Region District School Board. I’m very excited to see that the accountability piece is going to be there, because I think that’s the piece that’s really lacking. A lot of parents want to see the board being accountable and want it to be transparent so they can see what their children are being taught and where that money that we are investing is being spent.

Thank you, Speaker—

Interjection.

It’s an absolute honour to rise in the House today and offer my full support to the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act. Ever since our government was first elected in 2018, we’ve been busy ensuring our schools are safe, welcoming and inclusive learning centres for all students and modernizing the curriculum to ensure it’s preparing young people for the jobs of tomorrow.

And once again, the government of Ontario is investing in schools and in our province’s next generation. I’m pleased to say that after a decade, when the previous Liberal government closed over 600 schools across the province, our government is investing $15 billion over 10 years to build new schools, improve existing facilities and create new child care spaces for working parents.

Our hard-working people in Chatham-Kent–Leamington who pay their taxes and play by the rules have been very clear: They value public education, and they’re happy to invest in public education, but they want it to focus on preparing young people for the workforce, and they believe the system needs to be more accountable.

For the most part, Ontario is on the right track—for the most part. We’re among the top-performing education systems nationally and internationally. Our leading five-year graduation rate of 89% is a key contributor to our economic growth, and it supports efforts to maximize the productive capacity of our future labour force.

But, unfortunately, Speaker, our education system is not firing on all cylinders at the moment. This new legislation proposes specific remedies to get our system back on track. The performance of our public education system can be tangibly improved through greater accountability and transparency, better governance and leadership, maximizing school capital assets, training teachers for modern-day classrooms and ensuring there’s more consistent information and approaches to student learning. Speaker, those key reforms are the basis of the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act.

Our government has accomplished a great deal on this file over the past five years, but further transformational change requires both legislation and updated regulations. Speaker, if our legislation is passed, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act will increase accountability by giving parents new tools to navigate and understand the education system and basic qualifications for the directors of education who oversee our school boards. This act will allow the minister to establish key priorities to ensure students have the skills and knowledge they need, especially in areas of reading, writing and math.

If passed, this act would legislate reforms under four statutes: the Education Act, the Ontario College of Teachers Act, the Early Childhood Educators Act and the Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2001. Speaker, our government’s legislation will enact over 20 key recommendations across five themed categories, including, of course, accountability and transparency, governance and leadership, maximizing capital assets, teacher training and oversight, and consistent information and approaches to student learning. Clearly, these five themes are incredibly important to reforming our education system, but I’d like to spend a few moments on discussing teacher education and oversight.

Teaching is a special, important and challenging calling. I want to be clear: The great majority of teachers are dedicated professionals who deeply care about their students. I respect their work and our teachers, and so do my friends and colleagues on both sides of this House. Teachers like my amazing wife and many of our dearest friends are responsible for preparing our students for post-secondary education and entering the modern workforce. We need to make sure they have the very best people in front of them in every classroom.

Unfortunately, Speaker, teacher education programs do not currently provide consistent training in the fundamentals required by teachers and students, such as math, literacy, special education, mental health and technology in the classroom. Additionally, Speaker, the Ontario College of Teachers is not certifying teachers at the rate where they’re needed, and many believe that teacher disciplinary processes should be enhanced to improve overall student safety.

Should this pass, Speaker, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act would fundamentally change teacher training to be more holistic across the learning continuum, aligning with school structure and student needs. It would require initial teacher education programs in all faculties of education to include topics that are consistent with enabling teachers to graduate with a minimum of grade 9 math proficiency, appropriate proficiencies in literacy, enhanced learning and awareness of evidence-based approaches to teaching students with special needs, and appropriate learning in mental health and wellness.

Should it pass, Speaker, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act would remove barriers by introducing alternative certification pathways for priority groups and expediting entry into the workforce for individuals with relevant work experience. Our government would work with the Ontario College of Teachers to create more flexible certification options that will get more qualified teachers in the classroom faster, where they’re needed. We’ll also work with key stakeholders such as our Ministry of Colleges and Universities, Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development and faculties of education to develop real opportunities for flexible, accelerated initial teacher education programs to better attract mid-career teacher candidates in needed areas such as French-language education.

This bill would increase public confidence in the regulation of the teaching professions and the protection of students by amending the Ontario College of Teachers Act, 1996, by: specifically allowing for student victims of alleged sexual abuse, child pornography or criminal sexual acts by any teacher to receive funding for therapy; and clarifying certification reinstatement timelines for individuals who have had their licences revoked, so that it would take five years from the date of revocation before an individual may seek reinstatement from the college.

I have no doubt that parents and the broader public will support these very reasonable measures. There is no question that real reforms are needed and they have been needed for many years. This goes way back to the 1994 Royal Commission on Learning that then-Premier Bob Rae initialized.

To sum it up, “There’s no excuse for bad teachers....” And quite frankly, there must always be a priority for the student to have learning over an inadequate teacher’s right to a permanent job—it’s fundamental. Quite frankly, it is universal. Teachers should be trained in the fundamentals of math, reading and special education, as well as mental health, and our college of teachers needs to be empowered to protect our most vulnerable.

This government is listening to concerns across this province and across my riding of Chatham-Kent–Leamington. This act is driving transformational change—

Thank you to the members opposite for their comments. Let’s talk about this government’s record for a moment. Because what we learned this week is that:

—there are now four fewer high school teachers for every 1,000 secondary students in Ontario than there were five years ago;

—there is $1,200 less per student in funding than under the Liberals, once you’ve accounted for inflation;

—90% of schools have no regularly scheduled access to mental health professionals;

—50% of schools have no access to mental health resources at all; and

—schools across the province have a shortage of teachers and educational assistants.

Why do the members think that school boards are going to be able to deliver more with fewer resources for our students? And why are they talking about school board responsibility instead of ministerial responsibility?

This government did no consultation with parents or parents’ groups in putting this education bill forward, so let me read into the record a letter that I received from a school, from the school council of the Cootes Paradise Elementary School in my riding, who wrote to myself and the minister. They said immediate action is needed in their schools.

The letter says, in part, “Our children with additional needs are not getting the education they deserve. We demand better for our children. There are three primary issues: insufficient funding, EAs needed in every kindergarten class and transparent contingency plans needed for staff absences. There’s a lack of funding for EAs provincewide.”

They conclude by saying, “It’s time to act on your promises, invest in EAs, hire enough of them, pay them what they deserve, mandate at least one EA per kindergarten class, plan for contingencies.”

My question is, why did this government not spend $600 million of federal COVID dollars? Why did you underspend your education budget by $500 million? This would have helped the school in my riding, Cootes Paradise Elementary School, to deal with the problems that they’re facing right now.

Every day, parents tell me that they receive information from their children’s schools. They get permission slips, updates on class activities, requests to take part in fundraising, artwork, report cards—the list is as endless as their backpacks are full.

Yet one piece of information they don’t receive is how their children’s school is performing. Ontario’s 2021-22 EQAO assessment results show weaker performance in math across all grades and reading and writing in grade 3. You were just referencing this.

I know that our proposed legislation includes setting provincial education priorities for boards. How does requiring school boards to provide progress reports on provincial education priorities for student achievement support student success?

Thank you to the two presenters. I’m really excited about how this bill can create success for our next generation. I see that schools are taking too long to build, and they are getting more and more expensive. What is this bill going to do to help us so that we can prepare the school boards so that nothing gets delayed and we still have a top-quality learning environment for our students to accommodate this unprecedented growth?

I appreciate the question from my colleague the member for London North Centre. If this government really wanted to improve student outcomes, to ensure better schools in this province, they would consult with the education workers who are delivering the programs in our schools. I’m not confident that there’s a simple fix to this legislation that would deliver the outcomes that we want to see, because it all comes down to engaging with the people who are supporting students in our classrooms. It is reaching out to parents to really understand what it is that parents want to see in our school system, and it is using that information to move forward in a way that meets the needs of students in the province.

My question to the government side: I find that this is a curious set of priorities that the government is choosing to focus on. This morning, I brought it up at question period. It was brought up that school programs like the ones that provide nutrition to students in Niagara are in crisis across this province: 16 schools have closed their nutrition program, 30 more are projected to close and 49 have been affected. The government knows that we are facing a $400,000 shortfall on the nutrition program. My question is, why are we not making items like this a priority right now when we are talking about education?

I really enjoyed the member’s presentation this afternoon. One of the things in my region is we’re going to have a lot more jobs; we’re going to have a lot more families moving into that region. As such, we’re going to need to build more schools. We’re going to need more capacity. So my question to you would be, with this need to ensure that Ontario school boards are prepared for this growth now and in the future, how will this bill better prepare us to meet the demands for our students and of our families in the years ahead?