A Message from Education Action: Toronto

June 1, 2009

Dear Friends,

     We have two key things that have to be done this month. Create a draft policy statement and organize to stop the cuts at our Toronto boards. We need your help on both fronts.

     Policy

     Below we have attached the first draft of Education Action: Toronto's general policies on curriculum, funding and governance for you to download. It's the result of three years of discussion with a wide range of community and social justice groups. Specific policy statements will consider aspects of these general policies in greater detail. A list of these specific statements will be posted on the Education Action: Toronto website, which should be up in a couple of weeks, and drafts will be posted as they are worked out. We hope you will be actively involved in helping us develop these drafts as well as our more general policies. We want this to be a dynamic policy process that comes from continual discussion, debate and refinement.
    
     When these policies are completed and published in November 2009, we hope they are a valuable resource for communities to think through the education policies they support and to hold their trustee candidates accountable for them.
    
     The key points of our curriculum, funding and governance policy will be discussed at the Monday, June 8 meeting, 40 Wilcocks Street, New College, University of Toronto, 6:30 pm, Room 1017. (Wilcocks runs east of Spadina a couple of blocks south of the Spadina Subway on Bloor.)

Please click here to download the first draft of our policy booklet "Where We Stand: For and Against".

     We are also listing ten of the top issues many of our communities have told us should be front and centre during the 2010 trustee election. At our June 8 meeting, let us know what you think of these priorities. Please note that they are not listed in order of importance or popularity. 

Top Ten Issues for the 2010 Trustee Elections

What we want our elected trustees to do:

1. Begin an all-out political mobilization for increased education funding

2. Insist on the preservation and proper maintenance of public education facilities

3. Reduce bottom streaming and strengthen the regular classroom

4. Revitalize school security through local control and strong curriculum

5. Organize to develop our schools as neighbourhood hubs

6. Link 40-hour community service program to school hub development

7. Enrich school food and catering services and allied procurement policies

8. Make school sites environmental showplaces

9. Improve local involvement in school and school board decision-making

10. Strengthen local boards' equity offices

    
Political Action

     On June 24 the Toronto District School Board, 5050 Yonge Street, will approve its budget for 2009-2010. The meeting begins at 4:30 pm, but is likely to continue well into the night. Get there when you can.  Big cuts are planned.

     At the moment, the Board is looking at cuts in the neighbourhood of $39. 3 million. They will have a devastating effect on our schools. So far, the Board has tentatively approved staff reductions of 36 teacher librarians ($3.0 m), 150 education assistants ($5.9m), 20 Special Education teachers ($1.7m) and 28 caretakers ($1.6m) for a total of $12.2 million. That leaves $27.1 million still to cut.   Be at the June 24 Board meeting to tell our trustees to say NO to these cuts. If the province imposes a Supervisor, we must then begin organizing to make it clear to the people of Toronto that this assault on our public schools is a provincial initiative. Make the province wear these cuts.

     We hope to see you June 8 and June 24. These are key times for us all.

     In solidarity,

     George Martell and Faduma Mohamed, Co-chairs, Education Action: Toronto

     David Clandfield, Policy Chair