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Liberal Education Platform [top] |
| Put $1.6 billion into education, on top of the money already doled out by the Tories in response to the Rozanski report. Goes beyond Rozanski's funding recommendations. |
Create a cap of 20 students for all JK to Grade 3 classrooms ($375 million over four years).
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Introduce full-day JK and SK.
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| Scrap private school tax credit and put the resulting revenue, estimated at up to $500 million, back into the public education system. |
| Provide $177 million to put a moratorium on rural school closures. |
| Fix funding formula to address the particular needs of urban and rural schools, i.e. librarians and ESL. |
| Require learning to age 18. |
| Make mandatory the daily teaching of writing, reading and math. |
| Allow parents to choose schools. |
End labour conflict, by showing respect for teachers by "providing professional support." No concrete measures linked to this. |
| Promise that 75 per cent of students will meet or exceed provincial standards on province-wide tests. |
| Create teaching mentors, who are released from regular duties to share skills with other teachers. |
| Create a Curriculum Council, an independent organization to develop curriculum. |
Schools to offer child-care and parenting programs. |
| Improve assessment process for special education. |
| Tackle violence with anti-bullying programs, threat hotlines and surveillance cameras. |
| Establish standing committee on education with annual public hearings. |
| Reform Ontario College of Teachers, making it a professional body similar to the College of Physicians and Surgeons. |
Liberal Party Education Platform -
Post-Secondary [top] |
| Immediately freeze college and university tuition for at least two years. |
| Improve student financial aid. |
Provide tuition waivers for the most needy 10 per cent of students. |
| Create room for 50,000 more students in post-secondary education over five years. |
| Double number of apprenticeships in the province. |
New Democratic Party Education Platform [top] |
| Immediately add $2 billion to spending in order to fully implement Rozanski report recommendations. The NDP funding hike includes adjustments for inflation.
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| Scrap private school tax credit, which would save $500 million a year.
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| Change standardized tests to become diagnostic and be held at the beginning of the year, making them more useful for students. Would not be used to rank schools and districts.
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| Provide $50 million to keep rural schools from closing. |
| Full-day JK and SK for those who want it, part of strategy for early learning that would also expand regulated child care.
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| Provide a principal, librarian and physical education teacher in every school. |
| Provide special education and ESL for all who need it.
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| Create an "Education Charter of Rights," with four principles: accessibility; universality; comprehensiveness; and public administration.
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Create Education Commissioner to enforce Education Charter.
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| Bolster co-op programs, apprenticeships linked to high schools, and work with trade unions and employers to help those not eyeing university.
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| End the "artificial" distinction between "classroom" and "non-classroom" in the funding formula.
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New Democratic Party Education Platform -
Post-Secondary [top] |
| Cut college and university tuition by 10 per cent.
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| Ensure no student is turned away from post-secondary education for financial reasons.
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| Reduce graduate debt-load with new student assistance program.
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| Give all young people who are out of school, and between the ages 16 and 19, access to training, job placement, or educational upgrading.
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| Scrap plans for private universities.
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Progressive Conservative Party
Education Platform [top]
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| Follow Rozanski recommendations to fix the funding formula, over three years and without adjustments for inflation. |
| Ban strikes, lockouts or work-to-rule campaigns during the school year. |
| Speed up implementation of private school tax credit.
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| Make mandatory a literacy requirement for graduation from high school, providing "generous" remedial help where needed.
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| Create school report card, where boards must annually report on staffing, salaries, enrolment, average test results, and plans to improve student performance. (posted on Ont. Web site) |
| Allow non-teachers to lead extra-curricular activities, and to "supplement" the work of certified teachers.
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| Create and appoint Ontario Education Quality Auditor, to investigate how boards are spending their allocations.
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| Provide $50 million to keep rural schools open.
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| Allow parents the freedom to choose schools (adopted from the Liberals).
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| Create a system for "innovation schools," which specialize in areas such as the performing arts, or business and technology.
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| Require anti-bullying strategies in all schools, requiring repeat bullies to complete "scared straight" programs.
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Progressive Conservative Party
Education Platform - Post-Secondary [top]
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| Guarantee a place for all willing and qualified students.
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| Provide additional $400 million for student assistance, helping an additional 40,000 students per year for 10 years.
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| Allow internationally based Post-Secondary schools to set up in Ontario.
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| Focus on trades apprenticeships with: an apprenticeship tax credit; co-op programs in college and high school; on-line training development; and $90 million for high school equipment.
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