Marit Stiles grills Paul Calandra re: special education

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From Tuesday's provincial Hansard:

Ms. Marit Stiles: This question is for the Minister of Education. A new report from Community Living Ontario confirms what we’ve been hearing from parents and educators and advocates for so many years. Your education system is failing students with disabilities. We are hearing stories of unfair seclusion, exclusion and restraints being used in Ontario schools. Many students are being sent home or told to stay home because the school couldn’t meet their needs.

When is this minister going to reverse the years of underfunding that his own government has overseen and ensure that students with special needs receive the same level of education as their peers?

Hon. Paul Calandra: I appreciate the question from the Leader of the Opposition.

Look, Madam Speaker, let me just say this: I can tell the Leader of the Opposition through you that the government is spending record amounts in special education, but I don’t think that really matters to a parent whose child hasn’t been treated in a fashion that makes the child feel safe, or the parent feel that their child is being respected.

I am going to be meeting with the authors of the report. I’m going to be meeting with parents, as have the previous ministers before me who have continuously increased funding. But I know we share the same concern to ensure that all students, but especially the most vulnerable students, have all the tools that they need to succeed, and more importantly as well, that the teachers who are in the system have the resources and the training that they need to provide these students with the absolute highest level of education and care. That brings some confidence in the education system on their behalf.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Back to the Leader of the Opposition.

Ms. Marit Stiles: Thank you, Speaker, but I would remind the minister that his own government has cut per-student funding by $1,500 per student under this government. So maybe he needs to look at that again.

You should know that every school board in the province is running a deficit in special education. They’re spending more than they’re getting from this government. Not only has the government failed to provide guidance for schools on these issues—seclusion, restraints, exclusion—but there’s also no provincial data being tracked. Instead, school boards are creating and implementing their own policies. Students with disabilities, some of them as young as five or six years old, are being physically restrained and separated from their peers.

Will the minister stop abdicating responsibility and take the necessary action so that children with special needs are safe at school and get the same education as every other student?

Hon. Paul Calandra: I think it will maybe surprise the Leader of the Opposition to know that I agree. We have to modify or change the way school boards react and behave. I certainly agree with her. The Ministry of Education needs to ensure that there’s a more unified level of response from our school boards. Perhaps we’ve given too much autonomy to school boards, and they are making decisions that are not always in the best interests of students, parents and teachers.

I think last week we made our first steps into ensuring that accountability returns to our school boards. As I have said countless times, and as the ministers before me have said, we will stop at nothing to ensure that students, parents and teachers have the resources that they need to give our students the best possibility of success.

Let me be extraordinarily clear to school boards out there: When it comes to how we treat children with special needs in our system, they should always put the needs of the child first. They should ensure that the teachers have the resources to do that and that parents will have the utmost confidence. If our boards aren’t going to do it, I agree with the Leader of the Opposition: I’ll do it for them, and this government will get it done.

The Speaker (Hon. Donna Skelly): Back to the Leader of the Opposition.

Ms. Marit Stiles: I will say to the minister that, really, at the end of the day, the most important thing he could do to start is to put that $1,500 per student back because there’s no way that boards can meet the needs of these kids without that funding. That’s an enormous cut across all of our education system that was implemented by this government.

You’ve got to read this report, Speaker, to truly understand the extent of this. It’s about police being called in on a six-year-old Black student with disabilities. She was cuffed at the wrists and ankles and held down on the ground by police—a six-year-old. It’s about an autistic grade 1 student who was repeatedly locked into a padded room without his parents being notified. I will remind you that Landyn Ferris died last just last year in a very similar situation, while he was sleeping unsupervised in his school’s sensory room.

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I want to ask the minister again: Restore the funding as a starting point, and then let’s talk about what you can do to actually meet the needs of our kids with disabilities.

Hon. Paul Calandra: Obviously, funding isn’t necessarily the issue here because we have record levels of funding in the school system. In fact, that’s a hallmark of this government. We’ve increased funding to education.

Ultimately, I don’t think parents care what the minister says with respect to the record levels of funding when you hear instances where children with special needs aren’t being treated with respect and that their parents can’t have the confidence that their kids are safe in their schools.

I don’t blame teachers. Obviously, boards have not given the resources that are required to ensure that teachers have the training and that students are treated with the respect, dignity and care that is required under all circumstances.

So I will be again abundantly clear to school boards out there: We give you record levels of funding. There is an expectation that that funding is used to ensure that students, parents and teachers have the resources that they need for success. If they can’t do it on their own, I will step in, and we will do it for them. We will not fail on this.
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