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HomeMy WebLinkAbout16 OPSBA Report to Board 27 Mar 2006OPSBA Report to the Board, 2006 -03 -27 The OPSBA Board of Directors met on February 24 & 25, 2006, at the Metropolitan Hotel in Toronto. Public Education Symposium Susan Weinberg reported that the 2006 PES had been one of the best yet. An excellent participation of over 300 including 28 Directors of Education, and about a dozen student trustees. The turn-out for workshops was high and the evaluations were positive. Reviews of the Harbour Westin were mixed — not centrally located (which may have helped in terms of workshop participation) and construction noise in the North Tower. PES will return to the Sheraton Centre next year. Susan Weinberg also reported on plans for the AGM. The Planning Committee has met once and the event is taking shape. NEW CSBA Gerry Gershon reported on CSBA activities including that Newfoundland has rejoined. Deadline for Policy Resolutions at OPSBA AGM Friday April 7 is the deadline for submission of policy resolutions to be considered at the 2006 OPSBA Annual General Meeting. Concerns Raised about Silver Birch Book A TDSB Trustee raised concerns about a book on the Silver Birch reading list, titled "Three Wishes ". The book, which expresses the viewpoints of young people experiencing the Palestinian - Israeli conflict is said to be inappropriate for the age group targeted by the Silver Birch program. Native Trustee Representation at OPSBA BoD There has been a request from Native Trustees for a seat at the OPSBA Board of Directors. The Executive will be considering proposing a constitutional amendment to address this at the AGM. OMERS Although Bill 206 (an Act to Revise the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) received royal assent on February 23, OPSBA and the Ontario Catholic School Trustees' Association will continue to jointly lobby the government regarding three provisions for possible changes in the future. The provision for only one education representative on each of the Administrative Corporation and the Sponsorship corporation does not adequately reflect the fact that 27% of OMERS membership is from the education sector. They suggest that the province should cover the start up costs for the new Sponsorship structure. They also are supporting the government's proposed removal of the requirement that all plans be defined benefit plans. Finance According to Brian Cain, boards should have had sufficient knowledge to anticipate the change to grant regulations regarding special education funding for high needs students. Dave Walpole pointed out this knowledge did not come from any official government announcements but only from the nature of discussions at the Working Table on Special Education and other unofficial sources, so boards would not have had certainty about the specifics, only an indication of the change in direction. Despite the Minister's comments at the Public Education Symposium, there is no news from Ministry staff of any changes to the transportation funding model. Good Places to Learn There is still no news on when the standards /guidelines for Capital Plans and school closures will be released. School Energy Coalition (SEC) The SEC continues to intervene at the OEB on gas and electrical rate applications. The SEC strongly recommends that each board enter a purchasing consortium for commodity electricity. For 2006, SEC intervention at the Ontario Energy Board has resulted in saving of about $13M (out of a proposed $1.8M increase) for schools in the area served by Enbridge, and of about $50,000 to $80,000 for schools served by Hydro Ottawa. Minister's Working Tables Most of the working tables have not been active. The report arising from the work of the Special Education Working Table was presented to the Minister in January. The content of this report is not known to OPSBA, except that the funding formula will not have any needs - based or claims -based amount beyond the Special Incidence Portion. There will be no Net New Needs calculation. If total special education funding across the province remained stable, this approach would cost our board approximately 7% of special education funding while increasing the OCCDSB's special education funding by about 10 %. OPSBA had argued for needs -based funding baselined from the ISA Cycle V claims, but this will not fly, especially, it seems, with the Deputy Minister. Capital Plan It was suggested that boards make their Capital Plans optimistic — more like a wish list than a worse case scenario. Best Start The Board of Directors passed a resolution calling on governments to fund subsequent years' capital and operating costs for the Best Start Program. Boards are encouraged to lobby their local MPs regarding provision of childcare funding. OHRC Guidelines on Accessible Education Boards are encouraged to have their SEACs review the Ontario Human Rights Commission's "Guidelines on Accessible Education ", which can be found at http: / /www.ohrc. on. ca /english /publications /accessible- education - guide. shtml Education Program Work Team The Board of Directors passed the following resolutions recommended by the Education Program Work Team Children's Mental Health Ontario That OPSBA urge the provincial government to actively support funding solutions that promote collaboration and cooperation among ministries and agencies to enhance capacity to effectively deliver much - needed mental health services to children French as a Second Language That OPSBA urge the Ministry of Education to examine ways to improve the delivery of core French in Ontario schools so as to achieve the goal of doubling the number of functionally bilingual Ontario graduates by 2013; Calculus Curriculum That OPSBA request the Ministry of Education to develop a Grade 12 course in calculus to accompany the revised grade 12 course in the university stream. Policy Development Work Team The Candidates Guide for the November 2006 election has been prepared and will be sent to municipalities and boards. A resolution regarding opposition to Bill 19 (the Education Amendment Act (Community Involvement)) was deferred due to disagreement as to whether it was possible for students to find opportunities to do 60 hours of community service. Some rural boards in particular opposed an increase in the requirement due to the lack of opportunity in rural areas. Education Today Opportunity OPSBA's publication Education Today is offering Trustees the opportunity to submit individual original articles for publication. EQAO EQAO's Assessment Advisory Committee will be discussing cohort tracking — comparing how the results for students of the same birth year vary as they progress from the grade 3 test to the grade 6 test to the grade 9 test, etc. David Moen OPSBA Director for OCDSB 2005 -04 -09 Joan Spice OPSBA Director for OCDSB