Education funding is better in Ontario now than it has been in recent years - this is true. The funding our Board currently receives is still well below that which it historically received however and that is true also. It is true that funding increases every year, but then so does inflation, so do energy costs and labour costs. It is true that major new initiatives such as primary class size have been unrolled and may prove to be of some value but it is also true that our Board and others have been struggling to cover the unglamorous unsexy basics of providing a quality education.

Its true that some Boards are in better financial shape than others. In general however it is the larger urban Boards, be they Public or Catholic which have been struggling ... several are in or close to deficit even after these recent announcements and recent cuts (our Board included), last year a Catholic Board got taken over for refusing to cut, many Boards have been struggling. Some Boards are noisier than others about the funding situation as their corporate culture allows them to vigorously defend student interests on the public stage whereas others must remain more silent and hope that activist Boards will succeed for the sake of them all.

School Boards and students across Ontario need parents and citizens to ask their Provincial representatives and candidates what they mean to do about the funding situation. No one wants labour strife but what are Boards in Ontario to do if legacy collective agreement provisions are not fully funded by the formula? What are Boards to do if they are expected to meet the needs of students but the Province refuses again and again to define special education service standards and then to fund those? What are Boards to do if they differ widely in a common region in terms of transport service standards but receive very different transport monies rooted in the past and not updated for need and modern realities? What are Boards like our to do when our maintenance backlog grows every year (now over $300m)? What are we do when grants to us are fickle and one-time grants or rob from Peter to pay Paul? And, are Boards to remain silent when they must cut again and again year over year? When the Rozanski report recommendations for annual reviews of funding have not been followed? Should we remain silent if we are funded for ESL needs based on the gross number of students in our Board and not recognizing on the fact that Boards vary importantly in their ESL student loading? Do we shrug when cut school budgets result in more fundraising? These are our students, our future citizens, our sons and daughters we are talking about here.

There is too little funding, there are too many overly directive strings on the funding we do receive and the funding, though better, is not where it should be, and used to be. For our Board, for our students, funding is the number one issue absolutely and likely will remain so for the foreseeable future. I urge you to talk with each party's candidates about the funding issues. I am not plumping for any one party here or for any one position. In my view no party has paid or is paying adequate heed to education funding issues including dollar flows, local autonomy and genuinely needs-based rationale. This is an issue which should be number one for every party and every candidate. It is in any event our Board's agreed number one issue.