Ontario Provincial Election — ESAs On Tap
So far — the Ontario provincial election with just three weeks to go — has seen little said about the dismal education picture. The teacher unions and public service unions seem to have a lot at stake in this election and they do have a lot more to say than the major parties about their hopes and expectations in their industry: public education. They are pouring considerable resources ($, spin & volunteers) into this critical election.
School boards in the public school sector also have a lot at stake, and are planning a provincial EDUCATION DAY, May 27, when they plan to quiz candidates in all 107 ridings about education issues. The OPSBA says they are “non-partisan” yet they are limiting participation to only 4 major parties (Lib, NDP, PC, Gr) – BUT there are more parties running, especially the Libertarian Party which aims to have candidates for all ridings. Will the OPSBA be fair?
http://www.opsba.org/index.php?q=advocacy_and_action/EducationDay
For parents and grandparents and guardians this election should be a prime opportunity to talk about education issues — choice, innovations, technology, reading priorities, reading failures, fuzzy math, special needs, genuine parent involvement, teacher recertification, assessments, accountability, 21st Century curriculum, basic skills, etc. What’s happening so far regarding parent concerns?
This election provides a cosmological opportunity to talk about Education Savings Accounts (ESA), a fantastic new way to get responsive education — responsive to the needs of students rather than industry dependents. 40 years ago home education became the rare opening for parents to take charge of their children’s’ education. Now, choice mechanisms have evolved to the stage where the one-best-choice approach is undoubtedly the ESA. The idea needs push from long-suffering citizens, from those fed up with “producer capture”, from those fatigued and frustrated with “pent-up demand”, appalled with political coercion, sick of put-downs, stone-walling, dumbing-down, excuses, excuses, excuses, etc., etc., etc.
Ontario Election — June 12, 2014
Five Major Political Parties Running for your Vote — Liberal, NDP, Progressive Conservative, Green and Libertarian
107 Constituencies — The FIVE main parties expect to have candidates in each riding.
Here are the links to their platforms: SEARCH for “education”.
Liberal — http://www.ontarioliberal.ca/ [see 2014 budget and search for “education”http://www.ontarioliberal.ca/newsblog/NewsDetails.aspx?id=Budget+2014+-+Building+Opportunity,+Securing+Our+Future ]
NDP — http://www.ontariondp.ca/?COLLCC=3484805252& [see – Issues]
PC — http://www.ontariopc.com/ [see platform http://ontariopc.com/millionjobsplan/plan.pdf ]
Green — http://www.gpo.ca/ [ see platformhttp://www.gpo.ca/sites/gpo.ca/files/attachments/gpo_platform_2014_05_13_web.pdf SEARCH for “education”]
Libertarian — http://www.libertarian.on.ca/ [see Education Platform http://libertarian.on.ca/2013-2014-platform/education-smarter-inspiring ]