We may soon not have to worry about the Catholic system in Ontario - NDP Leader Andrea Horwath’s NDP are rumoured to be dropping a bomb in Ontario soon. I have heard about this from other sources as well.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/778152

“On a controversial policy matter closer to home, Horwath has ordered her MPPs not to participate in a forum being held Friday at the Ontario Institute for Studies on Education, where the NDP’s “socialist caucus” will debate whether the province should end public funding of Catholic schools.”

Ms. Dare,

You said, “By and large, today’s school boards are administrative structures that accomplish very little, if anything, that couldn’t be carried out by the individual schools they hamper. Far from adding value, school boards cost a lot, do very little, and get in the way of classroom teachers. In Ontario, we’re saddled with 72 of them.”  Better not tell Chuck, he’s afraid of more centralized government power - the ‘mantra of the left’.  You are assuming that in the power vacuum left behind by the removal of the boards, the power will drift downwards to the individual schools - not likely to happen.  Given the Ministry’s penchant for taking over mismanaged boards, a more likely scenario will be a bunch of highly paid ‘hired guns’ to oversee the schools.  Like it or not (and I don’t like the Board’s interference in the classroom), it is actually better than the alternative.

You could take school boards away tomorrow and most communities wouldn’t notice.

Just wait though Wayne if McGuinty gets back in all that will remain of your lovely - once disfunctional (remember the fun times over at MendEd?) board will be to dole out your pay cheques.

Boards are nice holding centres for too many well-paid bureaucrats and are no longer any guarantee of local authority…..slowly being sucked in to the blob.

If I didn’t make myself clear Wayne I’m not a fan of school boards (well paid administrations and bureaucrats) but I am a fan of elected trustees left alone to their communities and schools.

They’ve been nicely straight-jacketed by the gov’t and MOE. You remember those don’t you Wayne? The ones the new Oakville “coaltion” is looking for more control..not less.

What are they Trustees of? - the Board.  No Board, No Trustees.

I am afraid the school trustees have been neutered, and take their marching orders from the educrats.

To spend close to 1 million dollars, over a find of $29,000 spent wrongly?

“But overall, Del Grande said it cost taxpayers — through reports and audits — some $290,000 “to find $29,000 in wrongful spending” among trustees — which was repaid. He called that cost “an insult to taxpayers.”

Now I just wonder, if there is not a better way than hiring over-paid guns, by using the accountants at the board, and there has to be at least one, to do the audit, and make the corrections and changes. Of course, neutering the school trustees, they did not have the authority to do so.

“What are they Trustees of? - the Board.  No Board, No Trustees.”

I disagree. Trustees are the trustees of the delivery of public education to students.

Take out the admin., bureaucrats and supports and the trustees could still be elected and charged with local trust.

It worked in New Zealand. 

Actually, getting rid of boards all together would be my first option.

Second is allow individual schools to opt out of using them. With direct deposit and technology support and payroll could neatly be done centrally and end duplication.

Local decisions need to be taken out of the hands of boards, which the MOE has done already, and into local school communities.

All boards are doing now is closing schools it seems.

a second sobering thought is that if the NDP run on a platform of nixing the Catholic school system - this is all moot and it’s a whole other ballgame AND interestingly enough it could work out well for choice because how are the Lib. and PC leaders going to square this issue with their own personal Catholic choices?

Many school boards run deficits.  If that were the only reason to take them over, they’d be under supervision at any given time.

See our latest updated http://www.SunshineOnSchools.ca
for how boards spend relative to enrollments, acheivement, and a large number of other criteria. 

Ultimately, it’s up to the public to decide whether they are getting value for money.  A start in the right direction is to have the information in the first place.  Transparency is only the beginning.