Ontario government’s latest attempt at education centralization will cost more than you think

Despite the spectre of a potential teacher strike, Ontario kids are heading back to school. And the Ford government’s new “Classroom Supplies Fund,” which purports to give “elementary teachers… $750 each year for classroom supplies,” is the latest example of this government’s attempt to centralize decision-making on education policy and a classic example of government making a minor problem much worse.

Many teachers use their own money to purchase supplies for their classrooms, from pens and pencils to posters and other decorations. It makes little sense for teachers to pay out of their own pockets for supplies that they need to do their jobs. To address this problem, Education Minister Paul Calandra announced earlier this year that his government will provide each homeroom elementary teacher with $750 to purchase supplies. However, what at the surface might appear to be a simple solution turns out to be much more complicated.

For example, only about 60 per cent of this $750 per teacher is new education spending—$300 will be clawed back from existing funding the government already provides to school boards. Consequently, schools that already provide teachers with budgets for supplies will likely reduce or eliminate those budgets because teachers will now be expected to rely on the $750 grant from the provincial government.

In addition, by giving each elementary teacher the same amount of money, the Ford government will ignore the reality that individual needs vary depending on circumstances. A first-year teacher will likely need considerably more than $750 to properly outfit an empty classroom while a 25-year veteran undoubtedly has a well-stocked store of resources and can spend much less.

Of course, teachers who don’t need the money for classroom resources will likely spend it on other things—that’s the typical response when people receive money from the government.

To make matters worse, the Ford government will require teachers to purchase their supplies from only one company—Staples. While Staples sells excellent products, there will likely be plenty of circumstances where teachers could have gotten a better deal or found something that fit their needs better at a different store. And why this provision? Should it matter if teachers purchase their supplies from Staples, Walmart, Superstore or somewhere else?

Let’s also not forget that this new policy will likely require a new bureaucracy of bureaucrats to identify eligible teachers, determine which supplies teachers may purchase, and arrange for shipping supplies to the correct school. And once government starts a program, it becomes very difficult to dismantle even when it’s not needed anymore. In other words, there’s more to the cost of the “Classroom Supplies Fund” than simply multiplying $750 by the number of eligible teachers.

Given these facts, the Ford government should cancel this policy and allow local school administrators to decide how to support teachers. These decisions are best made by those who work directly with classroom teachers.

Over the last few years, the Ford government has shown a concerning penchant to centralize decision-making on many education policies. Ontario is a large province, and it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that the needs of teachers in downtown Toronto are likely quite different from those in Thunder Bay or Kenora. Minister Calandra might feel that his “Classroom Supplies Fund” will help teachers outfit their classrooms, but in reality, the costs will outweigh the benefits.