Bill 98: Better Schools and Student Outcomes?

 Bill 98 got Royal Assent a couple months ago, on June 8. At the time ETFO commented, 

"The level of authority that Bill 98 grants the government, with regard to the new provincial priorities framework, is unprecedented and could all but eliminate the ability of school boards to respond to the specific needs of the communities they serve. The potential abuse of this power alone should concern everyone."

We've seen some of it come into play already. There's this piece:

"The Minister may make regulations governing the provision of equivalent apprenticeship learning, including regulations prescribing criteria for the purposes of the definition of 'equivalent apprenticeship learning. . . . A person shall be considered to be attending school when he or she is participating in equivalent apprenticeship learning," 

which can be seen enacted in this article: "Ontario plan to lets students enter full-time apprenticeships after Grade 10 hurts learning, group warns."

Ford's government says we're short workers in the construction sector, so he's hoping students can fill the places. Part of the need is from the developing he's doing, much of it unwanted (Ontario Place, and on 3,000 hectares of the Greenbelt), but part of the need may be from the number of people no longer able to work from Covid cases. He's fixing the problem from the wrong direction.

And there's this bit,

"The Minister may make regulations in respect of school board controlled entities, including defining 'school board controlled entity' and prescribing persons or organizations that are school board controlled entities; prescribing requirements relating to finance and accountability and requiring school board controlled entities to comply with the requirement."

It's not totally controlling boards like happened with the Peel School Board for over two years. But it's definitely a move in that direction. The Lieutenant Governor has more powers to intervene, so it might be lucky that the recently appointed, Edith Dumont, is a former special education teacher, principal, and chair of a school board. 

Most recently, this bit is in the news,

"The Minister may direct a board to sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of a school site . . . if it is not needed to meet the board's current pupil accommodation needs or its pupil accommodation needs for the next 10 years. . . . The Minister may make regulations governing the sale, lease or other disposition of school sites . . . " 

That part is actually a couple pages long, so I cut it short. But you get the idea. And that can be seen in this article: 

"Ontario government needs 'overarching lens' on $60-billion worth of school property, minister says. Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government is targeting school lands in his next bid to boost the province's housing stock under wide-ranging legislation that puts his administration--not locally elected trustees--in charge of deciding which properties can be sold and developed." 

As a teacher, I was heavily involved in fighting to keep my school open - and we won! But that's only because we were able to appeal to the trustees that our downtown school was necessary for the community. If someone in Queens Park makes the call, community effects will likely be less of a concern than the value of land, particularly when it's on valuable real estate in the heart of the city. 

Lecce says the bill will speed up building new schools, but it clearly also gives him access to land for other types of development. Some call this bill a "real estate plan for enriching developers who donate to Ford Nation." You've got to wonder how a Provincial Minister of Education can become a multi-millionaire: "He is one of the richest and most influential politicians in Canada."

Curious.

And teachers still don't have a contract, and many of them are just finding out now through social media about curriculum changes that apparently take effect this September. Meanwhile Lecce's on the scene to get tough on crime to stop auto theft... as the Minister of Education! Make it make sense!!