Bill 160: Myths and Reality |
| Myth | Reality |
| Myth #1: The government’s proposed legislation would cut education funding. | Bill 160 would allow the government to introduce a new student-focused approach to funding that would meet students’ needs. It does not set funding limits. |
| Myth #2: The government seeks unprecedented power to govern the education system by regulation. | The government is proposing to amend Bill 160 so that limits on average class size and teaching time are set in legislation, rather than in regulation, so that any future change will be made only after the full legislative process, including public consultation. |
| Myth #3: The government wants to prevent teachers, school boards and parents from challenging its legislation in court. | A judge can review decisions that are unlawful or outside the tribunals jurisdiction. It is not uncommon for administrative tribunals, such as the Ontario Labour Relations Board and the Environmental Assessment Board to have this type of language in legislation. The Education Improvement Commission was established to ensure a smooth transition period. |
| Myth #4: The government wants to be above the law, and says that its decisions cannot be appealed or challenged in court. | A judge would continue to have full authority to review any decisions that are unlawful or outside the jurisdiction of the Education Improvement Commission, which was established to ensure a smooth transition. |
| Myth #5: The government no longer wants labour disputes to be decided by a neutral commission. | Bill 160 would transfer disputes between teachers’ unions and school boards to the Ontario Labour Relations’ Board, a neutral tribunal responsible for resolving most labour relations disputes. |
| Myth #6: The government wants new powers to establish, dissolve or amalgamate school boards by regulation. | The Education Act has always allowed the government to establish, dissolve, or amalgamate school boards. |
| Myth #7: The government wants new powers over school boards, including the power to fire school board staff and prosecute school board trustees who disagree with the government. | School boards that are balancing their budgets and meeting their financial obligations would never be subject to these provisions. However, since 1935, the government has had the authority to exercise supervision when a school board is in serious financial difficulties. |
| Myth #8: The government wants the power to remove school board trustees. | Bill 160 would not give the government any authority to remove school board trustees. |
| Myth #9: The government wants to exercise these powers without being subject to appeal or court challenge. | A judge would continue to have full authority to review any decisions that are unlawful or outside the jurisdiction of the Education Improvement Commission. |
| Myth #10: The government wants to strip away powers from locally-elected school boards. | To protect taxpayers, the government would remove the ability of local school boards to impose education property taxes. The powers and duties of school boards and school board trustees, in general, would be to ensure local representation, accountability and policy implementation in accordance with the Act and its regulations. |
| Myth #11: The government wants to replace certified teachers with unqualified classroom instructors. | The government would allow qualified professionals to complement, not replace, the work of certified teachers in the classroom. |
| Myth #12: The government wants to rip up teachers’ collective agreements. | The government would set in legislation the key priorities, class size and the amount of time that teachers spend with students. Teachers’ unions and school boards will continue to negotiate all other terms and conditions of employment. |
| Myth #13: The government wants to abolish teachers’ contracts, thereby removing their employment protection. | Terms and conditions of existing contracts would be transferred to the new school boards when they are established in January. |
| Myth #14: The government wants to remove teachers’ protection against dismissal without just cause. | Teachers, like other unionized employees, would be able to negotiate just cause provisions into collective agreements. |
| Myth #15: The government wants to reduce parents’ input and involvement in the education system | The government would increase parents’ involvement in the education system by mandating school councils at every school. |
| Myth #16: School councils would be required to do anything that a school board is required to do under the Education Act. | School councils would advise principals on such matters as student discipline, student safety, and local priorities. |
| Myth #17: The government wants to allow people without teaching backgrounds to become principals and vice-principals. | Bill 160 does not change the existing requirement that principals and vice-principals must be certified teachers. |
| Myth #18: The government broke its promise that principals and vice-principals would continue to belong to teachers’ unions. | Principals and vice-principals perform management and administrative duties, including the evaluation of the performance of teachers in their own union. The government would resolve this long-standing conflict and confusion on the role of principals and vice- principals. |
| Myth #19: The government wants to force principals and vice-principals to accept this new arrangement. | Under the proposed amendment to Bill 160, principals and vice-principals would be free to return to a teaching position and remain in the union. |
| Myth #20: The government wants to strip principals and vice-principals of their salary and benefits. | Principals and vice-principals would keep their current terms of employment until September 1998 so that they could work out a new contract with their school board. |
| Myth #21: The government wants the unilateral power to close schools. | The government will introduce a new approach to funding that, for the first time, would fairly fund school maintenance and construction based on the real needs of students attending that school. The government does not have unilateral power to permanently close a school. |
| Myth #22: The government wants the power to fund private school through “vouchers” and to create so-called “charter” schools | Bill 160 is about improving the quality, accountability and efficiency of publicly funded education in Ontario. It contains no mention of “vouchers” or charter schools. |
| Myth #23: The government “is refusing to give students a voice”. | Students would have a greater voice by being representatives on all school boards and having a seat on all school councils at secondary schools. |
| Myth #24: The government’s proposed legislation has nothing to do with students. There’s only one mention of the word “student” in the entire bill. | The government’s legislation has everything to do with improving the quality of education for Ontario’s students so that they can compete with the best in the world. The word “pupil” is mentioned 244 times in the legislation. |
| Myth #25: Bill 160 will force principals to quit their job to keep their seniority and their benefits. | Principals and vice-principals’ would keep their current conditions of employment until September 1, 1998 to allow them to work out new employment contracts with their boards. |
| Myth #26: Bill 160 will ban principals from forming their own union. | Principals and vice-principals would no longer be members of a union because they exercise a managerial role. However, they might wish to form an association. |
| Myth #27: Students will have to begin school earlier in the summer. | School boards would have the flexibility to have their teachers, not students, return to school before the start of the school year for professional development activities. |
| Myth #28: Bill 160 will give local parent groups unlimited power to manage schools. | It is intended that parents, the principal, teachers, community members, and at the high school level, students would also be represented on school councils. |
| Myth #29: Bill 160 will allow the province to levy different tax rates for different areas. | It is intended that residential taxes for education
would be cut in half and that Bill 160 would enable the government to provide
that homeowners and tenants would pay the same reduced tax rate regardless
of where they live in Ontario.
For business taxpayers, Bill 160 would enable the government to ensure that education tax rates could be set in a manner which provides tax certainty and stability. |
| Myth #30: Bill 160 will lead to larger class sizes. | Bill 160 would set a limit on average class size for school boards. |
| Myth #31: Bill 160 will force teachers to work excessive hours. | High school teachers would spend about 30 more minutes a day with their students. That’s about the average amount of class time spent by their peers across Canada. There would be no change for elementary teachers. |
| Myth #32: Bill 160 will lead to less time and individual attention for students. | Bill 160 would give students more classroom time in their school year and more classroom time with teachers. |
| Myth #33: Bill 160 will result in 10,000 teacher job losses. | Individual school boards would determine the appropriate number of teachers. However, nothing in Bill 160 would result in a reduction of this magnitude. |
| Myth #34: Students with special needs will suffer because of Bill 160. | The government would retain all the provisions in the Education Act concerning special education. Bill 160 would require every school board to continue to have a Special Education Advisory Committee and would also help parents of students with special needs by streamlining the appeals process. |