TORONTO – Bravo Minister Calandra.
Finally, someone in government who has a sense what constitutes accountability and responsibility in the exercise of a public mandate. We may come to regret our initial reactions to Minister Calandra’s press conference regarding his and the government’s attempt to bring School boards and their senior staff back “to heel”.
The Ministry, on the government’s behalf, must have finally said ENOUGH! In an environment of drastically reducing birthrates – and consequential student enrolment – and slumping performances, some school boards have become magnets for negative public reactions. Some of the 72 publicly- funded boards seem to have forgotten they have two primary obligations: (1) teach children in an environment that promotes knowledge, skills for today and tomorrow and growth as individuals and as elements of a productive well-adjusted society, and (2) be responsible custodians of the finances the taxpayer/government makes available to them for that goal.
There are other objectives along the way, many of them invaluable for the community of parents the boards and teachers were mandated to serve. The resources are not insignificant: an average of $14,000.00 per student enrolled.
In a class of 20 children that is significant amount of money – $280,000.00: for an elementary school of 300 school, well over $4 million. For an average high school of one thousand, that amounts to a cash flow of fourteen million plus dollars.
And yet Boards cannot seem to stay focused on meeting their statutory and constitutional obligations. In this latter regard, some Catholic District School Boards play fast and loose with their interpretation of what the magisterium, which justifies their existence. The justifications for some of the absolute nonsense leading to some public schools emerging as centres of defiance, drug distribution and of sexual license has reached insane levels.
On the financial side, whether public or Catholic any observer who follows Board meetings will be amazed at what the lack of oversight can produce to a Board’s budget. What the organizational culture of these “devil may care” boards needs is Inspectors on a regular basis to ensure students receive the care and security a $ 39 billion annual budget should provide.
The “devil may be in the detail”. The Corriere has been covering education in Ontario for years; we are encouraged by what Minister Calandra has said: he does not need a financial audit to recognize the obvious and to initiate the supervision these high rollers have come to regard as their entitlement.