“Our children and communities deserve the best!”
PV staff
Toronto housing and education advocate Sarah Smithies is running for school trustee in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) in the newly amalgamated Ward 6 (York – South Weston – Eglinton – Lawrence) in Toronto’s October 26 municipal election.
While a first-time candidate, Sarah has followed education politics at both the TDSB and the provincial government level for some time. She says that this election is key because of the provincial government’s attacks on local democracy.
“School trustees belong to Ontario’s oldest elected body, yet today our public education system is under a direct, anti-democratic attack. Under the guise of a crisis, the province has slashed TDSB wards from 22 to 12, installed corporate supervisors and stripped elected officials of their governance power.
“By eliminating the ‘public’ from our school system, Premier Doug Ford is now set on making colossal cuts. The Ford-appointed supervisor has announced the elimination of 800 positions, including equity and special needs positions that have destroyed the equity-rights champion reputation of our local board. Students who need specialized programs and resources will be left behind as the board reduces education to cookie-cutter delivery and standardized testing.
“One of the most egregious cuts is the elimination of the Model Schools for Inner Cities program which provided extra funding to meet the needs of students in the poorest neighbourhoods in Toronto. This program, which has many ancestors, was first fought for by parents in the 1980’s, who recognized the need for better supports for their children. Smaller class size, breakfast and lunch programs, after-school programs, English as a Second Language/Dialect programs, literacy initiatives are just some of the many supports they demanded and won back then, and which are now on the chopping block.”
In terms of Ward 6 specifically, Sarah says that the biggest issues facing the community now are underfunding, staffing and program cuts, coupled with the attack on local democracy.
“The crisis in our schools is entirely manufactured. Since 2018, Ontario’s core education funding has declined by $1,500 per student. We see the effects every day in overcrowded classrooms, crumbling infrastructure and multi-year waitlists for children who desperately need classroom support.
“Just as one example, my grandson, who started kindergarten last September, qualified for TDSB speech therapy resources. Instead of receiving help, he has spent a year on a waitlist and faces another year or two of waiting. As waitlists swell, children fall behind, teachers struggle to fill the gaps, and parents, when able, seek out private options.”
To address these and other pressing issues, Sarah is running on a platform that calls for fair funding, restoring critical student supports, returning democratic control to communities, and protecting schools as community hubs.
“When we talk about fair funding for student success, we’re talking about a number of things. We need to reduce class sizes, so that every student receives the attention they deserve. We need to eliminate the TDSB’s $4.45 billion repair backlog, to make all schools safe and healthy. We need to ensure adequate funding to the board for school supplies and resources, so that classrooms have the resources they need. And we need to reverse staffing cuts to education assistants, lunchroom supervisors, noon hour assistants and Outdoor Learning Centres, to create safe and welcoming environments.
“Restoring critical student supports means expanding special education supports, so that every student is supported. It means advocating for high-needs students, so that diagnostic kindergarten and MID (Mild Intellectual Disability) classes received targeted, specialized support, as required. It also means restoring the Model Schools program, to enable opportunities for all students.”
Against the backdrop of Doug Ford’s attack on local democracy, Sarah says it is crucial to campaign for return of democratic control to communities.
“Overall, we need to defend local, democratically elected boards, so that education decisions are driven by parents and local communities. As part of this, it’s important to restore community access to an elected representative. We also need to advance programs that promote equity, safety and culturally-responsive solutions, and work to prevent corporate intrusion into public education, to keep our schools free of corporate marketing or involvement in curriculum.”
Public schools are not just centres of education, but are also community hubs. Protecting this public infrastructure and the community role is also part of Sarah’s platform.
“There are many concrete ways to protect schools as community hubs. We need to support and expand in-school daycare programs, to support working families. We also need to protect and enhance after-school programs, Early ON centres, seniors programs and general interest programs, to encourage life-long learning.
“It’s also important to oppose school closures and encourage community use of facilities, including gyms and pools, as a shared community resource.”
Sarah’s campaign also includes a call for improved funding from the provincial government, which includes tax reform.
“Funds for education are not an expense, but an investment. In order to advance this program, education should be removed from the property tax. Instead, the federal and provincial governments must appropriately tax large corporations to pay their full share of education costs.”
With no status in Canada’s Constitution, municipalities are creatures of provincial government and are subject to arbitrary merger, dissolution and takeover. Sarah says that the recent board takeovers in Ontario have put this reality into sharp relief.
“There is no more poignant example of the contingency of this relationship than the ease with which the province was able to strip elected trustees of their access, place school boards under supervision, cut the number of wards in the TDSB in half, and appoint unelected supervisors to oversee the board.”
At the same time, she notes that there is a strong basis for resisting the provincial government’s attacks and cuts.
“Teacher and education worker unions are unified in their opposition to these cuts, and community allies are growing. What is needed is the election of a progressive majority of trustees to assist in the organized opposition to the decimation of our ‘public’ education system.
“The Campaign for Public Education has been very active in this space, as well as School Councils, student associations and unions such as ETFO, OSSTF and CUPE.”
Ontario readers who wish to support Sarah Smithies’ campaign can reach her on Instagram or by email. A campaign website will be available soon.
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