Mitigation grants will end in the foreseeable future. School boards must have sufficient funds to operate. School boards must be able to compensate their employees on a competitive basis and ensure their working conditions. Many school board employees have had no salary increases for seven years. School boards, however, should not have to beg the Minister for much needed funding using the resources of a government commission.
School boards require some local autonomy to raise funds for education.
Unless the government moves to restore funding to school boards on a much more extensive basis, Ontario's publicly-funded educational system will remain in crisis. That, of course, may always have been this government's real plan. That school boards develop processes that lead to the election of student trustees by their peers and that support the inclusion of student opinion in board deliberations. That the Ministry of Education enrich the learning opportunities grant, and reexamine the factors used to determine need and level of support under this grant. That the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance take appropriate steps to ensure that municipalities transfer boards' share of tax revenue to the boards on a monthly basis.