Classes cut in wake of funding changes

By Juan Romero

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has approved a budget reduction plan for the 2019-20 school year. The budget reduction comes as a result of the provincial government’s education cuts across Ontario in the past year. 

The board announced that $67.8 million will be cut from the budget and as a result there will be a reduction of staff as well as changes to certain programs across schools in the city. The news puts the future of the art courses and some teachers at Central Technical School in jeopardy. 

Fernanda Pisani, who is a member of the Alumnus Association at Central Tech, was very critical of the TDSB for allowing the provincial government to make these cuts without putting up a fight. She also blames the Ford government for “eviscerating bills that benefit our community”.

“I can’t understand why the Toronto District School Board is not standing up to Queen’s Park in a really big way, because this is not the first time it has happened under a Tory government. It seems now that it is enabling the demise of the public education system as we know it,” Pisani said. 

There have already been many cuts at Central Tech according to Pisani. The staff there has recently been cut dramatically. The most affected have been the technicians that help the professors ensure the safety and maintenance of the facilities.

“There have been cuts in regard to hiring of technicians, which is a necessity when you do a program like sculpture or ceramics. You need a technician to help keep the environment and facilities safe and functioning properly. That is not the job of the teacher because these are qualifications over and above teaching qualifications,” Pisani explained.  

Teachers with lack of seniority have also been affected by staff reductions, leaving some specialized courses at Central Tech to be taught by teachers who may not be trained in that specific field. 

The art program at Central Tech dates back to 1915, which makes it one of the oldest in the city. It has served as a foundation for some well recognized Canadian artists such as Joyce Weiland and Kazuo Nakamura. 

Linda R. Goldman is a former student, who later on went on to teach fabric arts at Central Tech from 1990 to 1992. She says she’s seen the arts program put in jeopardy repeatedly over the years and stated her belief that art programs should be given equal importance as other subjects in order to give equal opportunities for people who are on the artistic side.

“The art school there has had close calls like this before. For kids that are interested in going into the arts it is important to have these specialized programs available for them,” Goldman said.

She was also very critical of all the cuts Doug Ford has made since he came into power, especially regarding education. 

“I don’t know what he thinks he is accomplishing with this. I love the course at Central Tech and of course I am upset about the decision that was made,” she said.

The mood among students at Central Tech is also somewhat of disbelief. The program has been running for many decades, laying a great foundation for students who want to pursue careers in art; to see it come down to this has left most students upset. 

Angela Walcott is a student of the adult art program at Central Tech. She has attended the school since 2015. She has a lot of praise for the program and believes the board should find a way to keep art programs running steadily. 

“Personally for me and for some of my fellow classmates that I have talked to, we have felt that the courses really changed our approach to a lot of things and it helped us develop our sense of style and sort of our sense of understanding the process. So for that to disappear after decades in the educational system is just sad,” Walcott said. “I do hope that the program remains or comes back in a new form. It would be nice because there is a vision there and there is a foundation.”

However, there are a few reasons why the board might argue why they approved certain cuts. According to Fernanda Pisani, there has been a decrease in enrolment in high schools all across the city. At Central Tech the decrease has also been caused due to the fact that its art program is not longer as unique as it once was. There is more competition from schools in the area that offer similar programs.

 Yet despite the recent enrolment issues, she believes that the real threat to programs such as the art one at Central Tech has been the budget given by the provincial governments throughout the years. 

“At one point it was under the control of the municipal government. Ever since the mandate at Queen’s Park began to take over the budget for education in the city, things changed. It has been very impactful because depending on who is in power at the provincial level you have funding that reflects that,” she said. 

With regard to the Toronto District School Board, its chair Robin Pilkey said that the board worked very hard to maintain a balanced budget for 2019-20 at the same time as they were coping with the budget reductions from the government. 

“Despite these challenges, we have been careful to ensure that we continue to have sufficient resources to offer an outstanding education experience for our students,” Pilkey said. 

They have also announced that, despite the cuts, they will still have a budget of $3.4 billion. Over 90 per cent of the budget will go toward school operations and instruction. They also predict a small increase in enrolment for the next few years.