Pursuant to standing order 7(e), I wish to inform the House that tonight’s evening meeting is cancelled.

Resuming the debate adjourned on June 6, 2023, on the motion for third reading of the following bill:

Bill 98, An Act to amend various Acts relating to education and child care / Projet de loi 98, Loi modifiant diverses lois en ce qui concerne l’éducation et la garde d’enfants.

Thank you to the member opposite for her comments. I just wanted to ask the member opposite what she has against transparency, because this legislation is really trying to make the whole school board system more transparent, and I know my constituents, who I listen to every day, really want to know what the money is being used for that goes to school boards. For example, we’ve given $100 million more each year in funding to school boards and a total of, I think, $541 million to school boards to fund special needs, and it goes into a black hole. And special-needs teachers come to me and tell me they’re the first people pulled so the money can be used for other initiatives.

So my question really is, don’t you want to know what the money for special-needs children, which you said is so important, is actually going for? Then, we’ll see if it’s sufficient, insufficient etc., but at least we’ll have more information so we’ll know what we’re talking about.

Questions?

Thank you to the member from Eglinton–Lawrence for that question.

I’m thrilled to hear about the member from Eglinton–Lawrence’s newfound interest in transparency and accountability, because I was at the social policy committee when the member for Eglinton–Lawrence defeated a motion that would have seen the Minister of Education come and answer questions on the estimates for 15 hours, which has been traditional in this place, and instead put forward a motion that only allowed the minister to come for three hours to answer questions.

The member for Eglinton–Lawrence was also there on Monday, when I questioned the minister about things like the school repair backlog and, yes, funding on special education, and the minister could not answer my questions and dodged questions.

I agree with the member that Ontarians are very interested in transparency and accountability. And what they would really like to see is some transparency and accountability from this government on what they are doing to education in this province.

It really is heartbreaking and disappointing how we have treated children with disabilities and accessibility needs in this province. We have a funding formula that is not even based on what they actually need. It’s based on some strange statistical model that has nothing to do with what is actually going on within our schools, and that’s what’s really robbing children of the opportunity to have the supports they need to learn within school safely.

So what we need to do is to actually fund based on the needs, make sure that children are receiving the supports they need, whether it’s an educational assistant, whether it’s a special class placement, so that every child in Ontario truly has the opportunity to be at school safely, but also to learn something while they are there and to benefit from that socialization and that opportunity to participate.

I hope I can say with some confidence that no member in this House supports in any way teachers who are assaulting or abusing children being present in the classroom and having certification in the province of Ontario.

But what I would say is deeply disappointing is that the College of Teachers has been asking for changes for some time that the government could have brought forward at any time, but as they so often do, they waited until they could include these changes in a bill that also tramples on the rights of francophone children to an equitable education in their own language, that also fails to respect the rights of children with disabilities in Ontario and tramples on the work being done by locally elected school board trustees

I would suggest that if the government was truly interested in protecting children as thoroughly and quickly as possible, they would have brought forward these changes a long time ago in a stand-alone bill.

We can’t have that unless we are actually prepared to invest the funding in our education system that our education system needs, and what we see time and time again is that this government is just not prepared to do that. Their funding during the five years they have been in government has decline by $1,200 per student, when you account for inflation, and they are spending 27 cents per day per child on mental health after a global pandemic and unprecedented disruptions in our schools. It is simply not enough.

Similarly, what we see with mental health is that there are fewer mental health professionals in schools now than there were a decade ago. This government is only spending 27 cents per day per child. It is clearly not enough, because 91% of our schools are saying they need more help with mental health—that’s 91%, which again, I did not get the basic math curriculum—

The member from London North Centre.

Further debate?

Thank you to the member opposite for her remarks. I just want to correct some misnomers I’ve been hearing this morning. Our government increased the Grants for Student Needs this year in the budget—which the members opposite voted against—by over $600 million. We also built upon our historic investments in mental health by—the last budget prior to the election was a 400% increase since we formed government in 2018. We added to that again this year.

My question to the members opposite is when will they join this government in supporting students and vote for this bill?

Madam Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to rise in this chamber and offer my strong support for Bill 98, also known as the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act. I also want to thank the Minister of Education and his parliamentary assistant for the incredible work they’re doing to ensure our schools are inclusive and welcoming learning centres and the curriculum is relevant to the challenges of tomorrow.

Ontario’s curriculum, Madam Speaker, now includes a stronger focus on STEM learning and math, as well as instruction in financial literacy and greater access to training and work in the skilled trades.

After a decade when the previous Liberal government closed over 600 schools across the province and refused to listen to the concerns of parents, our government is investing approximately $15 billion over 10 years to build new schools, improve existing facilities and create new child care spaces. Since 2018, Speaker, our government has invested over $2.2 billion in education capital projects, including 100 new schools, 80 school additions and nearly 6,500 new licensed child care spaces.

I want to applaud the minister, who just this past May, for Asian Heritage Month, announced partnerships with the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto and the Tribute to Early Chinese Immigrants Canada Foundation for providing teachers and students with supplementary resources to encourage and facilitate a better understanding of Asian heritage, as well as the shameful Chinese exclusion act of 1923 and the Chinese head tax.

Speaker, it’s incredibly important that young people learn more about the incredible contributions of Asian Canadians, that we combat the anti-Asian racism in our schools. I’m proud of the Minister of Education for taking action.

Parents in Richmond Hill have told me that they strongly support public education because they want their kids to succeed in life, but Richmond Hill parents also believe that school boards have to be a lot more accountable and have to be a lot more transparent about the money that they spend and the results that they receive. I believe this is a very reasonable request, Speaker. I also believe it is fair to say that most school boards are doing a very good job managing their resources and educating our young people.

I say that, Speaker, for a simple reason: 89% of high school students graduate within five years. That’s an impressive figure. Speaker, it’s up from 85% just a few years ago. Unfortunately, there are about 15,000 students every year who do not graduate within five years.

Here’s the situation in a nutshell: Some boards are having trouble managing their resources and are even cutting front-line staff, despite the fact that we are providing them with record funding. That’s a significant problem, Speaker, but what’s worse, some boards are consistently underperforming when it comes to getting students to graduate high school within five years.

Speaker, I also want to add that I will be sharing my time with the member from Perth–Wellington.

The minister has been doing an incredible job of updating the curriculum, but the Ministry of Education is limited in its ability to drive and enforce provincial priorities through the schools. Moreover, many parents are rightfully frustrated because information about school board performance and the relationship between education spending and its ability to support education outcomes is not easily accessible to the public at large.

I have a lot of respect for elected school board trustees. They volunteer their time to ensure that school boards are focused on the students’ achievement and that resources are managed competently. Across the province, Speaker, about 700 elected trustees provide local government over a $27-billion education system. Yet trustees lack a consistent set of skills, training or a standard code of conduct, and the public has at times been distracted by disputes among trustees that are costly and time-consuming.

Back when he was a school board trustee with the Toronto District School Board in 2015, my honourable colleague the member for Spadina–Fort York had much to say on this subject to the Toronto Star: “I’m angry with trustees who, for the past year and a half engaged in feuds with each other, lobbing missiles through the media, thinking they were hurting only their opponents, but who were destroying the board’s reputation.”

Even worse, Speaker, many parents see their local school boards as big and impersonal bureaucracies and feel powerless to effect change when they aren’t satisfied with the education their kids are receiving. This is especially the case with new Canadians whose first language is not English. Some of them even worry that they might get into trouble if they voice an objection.

Clearly, Speaker, parents, students, taxpayers and everyone deserve some better accountability from their school boards, and that’s what the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act is all about.

I’m quite enthusiastic about the proposed handbook for parents that will spell out their rights and responsibilities regarding their children’s education. Our government strongly believes in empowering parents, and I’m sure that such a handbook will prove to be incredibly useful during parent-teacher conferences.

Speaker, this is what the Ontario Human Rights Commission recently had to say in a written submission regarding our legislation: “The commission supports the proposed improvements to transparency, communication and reporting through publicly posted board improvement plans, updated to parents twice a year.” I will add, Madam Speaker, that Bill 98, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, goes much further than mandating a handbook for parents.

School boards sit on the largest vertical real estate portfolio in the broader public school sector, with over 4,600 open or operating schools. Our legislation, if passed, would strengthen the ministry’s oversight over the use, sale and development of school board real estate, including the power to direct boards to establish a framework for surplus properties, along with the ability to direct a sale or sever a property.

Maximizing capital assets will help board student achievement as well achieve the effective, efficient and sustainable use of school board funding and property. In fact, Madam Speaker, this was one of the recommendations of the Drummond report that was commissioned by former Premier Dalton McGuinty: “Efficiency can also be found by maximizing the value of school board capital assets.... The minister should have the power to order the sale of unused properties, especially when such dispositions could meet other needs.”

Our legislation would also strengthen accountability over school board spending, including additional resources for financial investigations when needed, and require transparent reporting on school board spending and how it supports student outcomes.

The act will enable the minister to require school boards to report publicly against standardized categories of spending twice annually. It will strengthen the minister’s authority to direct and prohibit board participation in prescribed activities that could place the board at financial risk.

This act will allow for the appointment of professional corporations as investigators in board financial affairs when there’s distress.

Speaker, I have a lot more to share, but I would like to share this time with the member from Perth–Wellington. Thank you.

Thank you very much to the member from Ottawa West–Nepean. Your understanding of this issue is unparalleled. Thank you so much for highlighting the failures of the bill. This bill is truly arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. There’s a huge problem in our schools, and this government is focusing on blame when they’re not looking themselves in the mirror to understand that they are underfunding these schools. Instead, they’re going to strong-arm boards.

I received a message from Mr. Ed, who has been teaching in Hamilton for many, many years, who said, “Violence and safety of children and staff is an ongoing concern, with incidents occurring on a daily basis. Schools need more help for support for mental health and social-emotional needs, and we just don’t have them. We need smaller classes, more boots on the ground to work with these students and parents, and the problem seems to be getting worse. COVID definitely exacerbated that, and we need to get ahead of this before schools are in further crisis.”

I would add the schools are left holding the bag for COVID funding that the province is not making them whole for.

Can you say further to how this government has failed students in our schools in Ontario?

I’d like to thank the member from Ottawa West–Nepean for her excellent commentary on the state of education here within our province and how Bill 98 really misses the mark in terms of special education.

The former Liberal government patted themselves on the back for placing students with special needs inside of mainstream classrooms. They called it inclusion, but they didn’t provide the supports; from where we sit, that is abandonment. The utter neglect of children with special needs really has been continued under this government.

My question to the member: If this government truly cared for students with special needs, what improvements could they make to the funding formula to ensure that these children have the supports they require?

The member from Perth–Wellington.

Thank you to the members from Richmond Hill and Perth–Wellington for their comments.

A question about children’s mental health: There has been mental health counselling made available in schools, but the problem in my community and in other communities across Ontario is that it’s not connected to children’s mental health agencies. The mental health workers in schools are unsupervised, largely, and at the end of the school year, when the school year wraps up, the children who are receiving help have to be released back into the children’s mental health agency, so there is not a continuity there.

Why did the government not consult with local children’s mental health agencies to make sure that help was being provided efficiently?

Questions?

It’s a pleasure for me to rise in this chamber to provide my full support for Bill 98, Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act.

Speaker, there’s nothing more important than preparing our young people for lifelong success, and if we want to get the education system working the way that it should, we need to pass this legislation. It is really that simple. In my riding of Perth–Wellington, parents have made it clear that while they believe in the promise of public education, they also want an education system to do a much better job of getting their kids ready for the workforce. That means more reading, more math, more science and an introduction to the skilled trades.

Before I get to the merits of the bill, I want to take this opportunity to thank the Minister of Education and the parliamentary assistant for everything they have done. I had the pleasure of working alongside both the minister and PA Barnes for several months after the last election before I was moved to municipal affairs and housing. I can tell this chamber that the minister is incredibly passionate about reforming the education system and has accomplished a great deal so far. And as both a mom and a former trustee for the Durham District School Board, the parliamentary assistant and the member for Ajax, Patrice Barnes, is incredibly knowledgeable about both the internal workings of our school boards and the state of the education system at the grassroots level. Both are driving transformational change in our education system, and I applaud them on their progress so far and everything they have accomplished. The province’s students are in good hands.

This province’s education system needs some transformational change, because the stakes could not be higher in these times. Ontario is facing the largest shortage of skilled labour in a generation. Right now, there are more than 100,000 unfilled skilled trades jobs across the province. It’s projected that by 2026, approximately one in five job openings in Ontario will be in skilled-trades-related fields. It is estimated that more than 40% of jobs in Canada are at high risk of getting disrupted by technology. So it’s crucial that we prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow.

We’re taking decisive action, and we’re getting it done. Ever since our government was first elected five years ago, we have been busy updating the province’s curriculum to ensure it does a better job of reflecting the changing needs in our labour market. More specifically, that has meant making financial literacy and digital fluency key priorities; investing $200 million to support a four-year math strategy; teaching valuable transferable skills such as leadership, communication, collaboration and critical thinking; promoting the skilled trades as a top choice for a career path for young people; increasing awareness and access to apprenticeship programs; and, obviously, improving science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, learning across Ontario and our public school system.

In addition to the $200 million for the math strategy, we’re also investing more than $71 million in 2023-24 in a new math plan that doubles the number of school math coaches in the classroom and expands access to digital math tools that students and parents can access at any time.

I’m proud to add that the government of Ontario is once again building new schools, after a decade under the previous Liberal government when we saw the closure of 600 schools across Ontario, many in rural communities. More specifically, our government is investing approximately $15 billion over 10 years to build new schools, improve existing educational facilities and create new child care spaces for hard-working families.

These are pretty significant investments, which is why I’m confident that our government is on the right track. But there’s only so much we can do and accomplish without drafting new legislation. If passed, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act will increase accountability by giving parents new tools to navigate and understand the education system and establish basic qualifications for directors of education.

Bill 98 will allow the minister to establish key priorities to ensure students have the skills and knowledge they need, especially in areas such as reading, writing and math. As a matter of fact, the Ontario Human Rights Commission recently provided written submissions on Bill 98. I just want to have a brief quote: “The OHRC is pleased in see that Bill 98 lays the groundwork for an education system unified with a focus on improving student outcomes in the important lifelong skill of reading.”

Just as an aside, Speaker, I have to wonder how my honourable colleagues in the New Democratic, Liberal and Green parties feel about opposing a bill that enjoys the full support of the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

In any case, my colleagues and I are incredibly excited about the actions our government is taking to improve our education system and outcomes for young people, but I think we need to talk a little bit about resources.

Speaker, our government has increased the Ministry of Education’s investments every year since we took office. In fact, we have announced more than $27.6 billion in total education funding to school boards for this fiscal year, 2023-24—the highest investment in public education in the province’s history. We’re doing our part, and we’re providing school boards with valuable resources, but some school boards are claiming they can’t make do, even with record investments in education. Something doesn’t add up.

What many Ontarians don’t realize is that the education sector is sitting on the largest vertical real estate portfolio within the broader public sector, with over 4,600 open or operating schools. But there’s a lack of standardization on how school boards should manage this considerable number of assets.

Additionally, we have seen across the province that boards will not rent or sell unused schools to competing boards, or when there are underused schools in some areas of the board’s jurisdiction while other areas require new schools.

The Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act will maximize the capital assets held by school boards by:

—strengthening the province’s oversight over the use, sale and development of school board real estate, including surplus properties;

—setting authority to direct the joint use of schools;

—streamlining approvals in high-growth areas;

—requiring school boards to work with municipalities on urban planning—and as the now-parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, I know we’re also working with the Ministry of Education to ensure that we are planning growth in the right areas and ensuring that schools are built in high-growth areas, and innovative solutions, whether that is a school in a new condo building or a school in a new community;

—setting authority to direct school boards to utilize standardized designs.

Speaker, I believe that parents and the public will support a more effective use of public resources, especially if our reforms make it easier to get schools built—and faster—when their children are ready to attend them. We must get more classrooms into the communities that need them ASAP.

Overall, the big picture is this: Ontario school boards receive over $27 billion in provincial funding and operate over 4,800 school facilities and a complex system of student transportation. Parents, families and taxpayers demand and deserve greater transparency and accountability into how their education system is managed and how the system’s resources are managed.

Our reforms are very much in line with the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Learning that was chaired by former Liberal cabinet minister Monique Begin and long-time New Democrat Gerald Caplan in the mid-1990s. To quote the 1994 report: “We recommend the transfer of several key responsibilities away from boards. We believe that determining the level of each board’s expenditures, for example, should be the ministry’s job.” The fact that this report was tabled when I was four years old and we still have not moved on it—I’m glad to see that our government is finally taking action and moving forward with some of the recommendations outlined in it.

I can also cite the 2012 Drummond report that my colleague also mentioned in her remarks, commissioned by former Premier Dalton McGuinty. In the words of the Drummond report, “Efficiency can also be found by maximizing the value of school board capital assets. Where schools have been closed or consolidated because of declining enrolment, school boards have surplus properties. The minister should have the power to order the sale of unused properties, especially when such dispositions could meet other needs in the BPS.”

Speaker, to summarize, we’re getting the job done. We’re providing schools and school boards with the resources they need to educate our children. We are once again building and improving schools after a decade of school closures under the previous Liberal government. We are taking action to ensure that our precious tax dollars are supporting our youth.

Thank you—

My question to the member is, what happens if parents disagree with a school or school board’s proposal on a grade retention, promotion and acceleration of their child? And how does this legislation help with these sometimes extremely difficult conversations?

I’m pleased to be here today to rise and speak about Bill 98, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, 2023. I also want to thank the member for Ottawa West–Nepean for her exceptional and hard work on this bill.

It was very enlightening listening to the member speak today and demonstrate her significant expertise on this file. Her knowledge is also based on the fact that she has children in the school board system, so she can share her expertise and her personal experience with our school board system.

This bill was introduced at the same time as the Grants for Student Needs funding envelope was released for the year, and that’s deliberate. It is pretty typical for the government to present a bill with some ugly things and some good things in it at the same time as they’re presenting an announcement which has far bigger implications on the quality of the schooling that the children in Ontario receive. That’s what happened with Bill 97, a bill that I’ve been working on for some time, and it also happened with Bill 98.

The reason I want to talk about not just Bill 98 but also the larger issues with our school system is, when we’re thinking about how we want to improve the quality of education our kids receive, we need to talk about funding and we need to talk about what is actually happening in the classroom. There’s a big difference between what this government says—its rhetoric—and what is actually happening on the ground in schools and in classrooms across Ontario.

I think about what is happening with the Toronto District School Board, because that is an area I represent. I very carefully read the Toronto District School Board’s announcements. I’ve read their long-term growth and accommodation strategy that looks at where we are going to put our schools and whether our schools have the capacity to deal with the 30,000-plus students who will be enrolled. There will be an increase in enrolment of that amount in the coming years. I also look at how they’re preparing for the 2023-24 year, and from the school board’s perspective, from the parents’ perspective, from the teachers’ perspective, from the education workers’ perspective, it doesn’t look good. What we are hearing is that the TDSB is looking at cutting 522 staffing positions. At a time when we have had year after year after year after year of cuts, it’s another round of staffing position cuts.

Interjection.

Thank you to my colleague for this question. It is important and you are correct that a student’s education can provide a solid foundation for their future success.

Our government is making historic investments in Ontario schools by providing $27.6 million for public education in 2023-24. In addition, the Ministry of Education is also providing $180 million in 2023-24 for math and reading supports for Ontario students in our classrooms and at home. We also have the previous $200-million investment—we supported students—for a four-year math strategy.

It is important that boards have a unified focus on student success. That is why we see and we stress the achievement of the students, and prioritizing development in reading, writing and math is so important. We will work together with them to strengthen this.

My question to the government members: Let’s be clear, this bill is a straight-up power grab. You’re bigfooting local school boards and parents and concentrating power here at Queen’s Park. Clearly, Conservatives love big government when you’re in power.

It’s also a land grab. Who would be surprised that this government that sold off our greenbelt would be grabbing all of the assets of local school boards?

What this bill is not about is empowering parents. Speaker, you will know this, as a member of the committee: The two members from Richmond Hill and Perth–Wellington who spoke here today voted against every amendment at committee, including amendments that would ensure Franco-Ontarians had rights under the charter.

Interjection.

You also voted against every amendment to ensure disability rights for kids in our schools. Why did you do this?

Interjection.

I’d like to thank the members from Perth–Wellington and Richmond Hill for their presentation.

Learning disruptions and violence are becoming normalized across Ontario schools because the Ford government blatantly refuses to address this issue. School violence was not mentioned in their 2023 budget. School violence was not addressed in Bill 98. Students have been pleading for support. Educators have brought these concerns forward. In fact, one in two educators—more than 50% of educators—have reported violence that they have witnessed in the classroom.

When will this government address the violence that is holding children back and holding their education hostage?

The member for Perth–Wellington.

The member for Newmarket–Aurora.

Interjections.

Further debate?