Oh Doug Ford, the premier for whom I never voted but who has, nonetheless, destroyed the province my family calls home. And, is there anything he has ruined more completely during his tenure than everything to do with education? From reprehensible cuts to OSAP to his insistence on taking over school boards, it’s clear the man hates school. As a mom with a child in a public elementary school, I get a front row seat to see just how much Doug Ford hates our children.
My daughter attends a fabulous alternative public school in downtown Toronto. The teachers are phenomenal and the community is lovely; however, the facility in which the school is housed is…not lovely: the washrooms are woefully out-of-date, and there is an infestation of the boldest mice I’ve ever met (they aren’t the least bit intimidated by the army of children who stomp through the halls several times a day). And, if not for our annual Scholastic Book Fair (a key fundraiser for many schools), the library would probably boast about half a dozen novels printed prior to 1983.
What I want people without school-age children to understand is that when Doug Ford cuts education, it falls on parents to fill the funding gaps, and we are getting more burnt out every year just trying to make sure our kids’ schools have books!
Today, Ontario has a $12.7 billion shortfall on school repair and construction. However, this neglect goes beyond the derelict buildings themselves: class sizes are going up, and underfunded TSDSB schools are being forced into decisions like closing pools or gutting music programs.
When we host fundraisers like kindergarten art auctions or slap together holiday raffles, we do so not because we are desperate to provide enrichment programs for our kids, but because we’re not sure our kids will even get the basics. A warm school with a roof that doesn’t leak is starting to feel like a luxury in the province of Ontario.
And this brings me to my recent faux pas: I, Sarah Sahagian, forgot the day of my child’s Class Bake Sale. I erroneously thought it was on a Wednesday, but it was, in fact, the next day. This means the cookies that were submitted for sale were baked two days prior, and, well, not their freshest. I was wracked with guilt when I realized this. Would my family’s stale cookies fetch a lower price? Would my daughter’s class have EVEN LESS money to buy markers and Robert Munsch books? They already can’t afford to have a class pet!
But, after soothing my shame spiral with a cup of chamomile tea, I realized the program isn’t me. I, Sarah Sahagian, am a working mother who has multiple jobs, pays her taxes on time, and rarely even jay walks. I am not to blame for the strain on her province’s education system. It should not be my family’s job to bake brownies so my daughter’s wonderful teacher can purchase classroom supplies. Instead, I am going to propose a radical solution to treating parents as professional school fundraisers: it should be our government’s job to put aside their irrational hatred of academia and provide our schools with the proper funding.
