With an election less than one week away, the chair of the Waterloo Region District School Board says he’s disappointed none of the major parties are suggesting to merge Ontario’s public and separate school systems into one.
“I’d like someone to say ‘This is right; this is what we should do’ … and just take leadership on it,” says Ted Martin.
Martin, who says his opinions shouldn’t be taken as those of the WRDSB, has been an outspoken advocate of merging the school systems for many years.
He says it could lead to significant monetary savings, eliminate some bus trips and allow for more rural schools to stay open.
But most of all, he says, it comes down to fairness.
“We’re a multicultural society. I think you have to either go fund all faiths, or don’t fund any faith,” he says.
Catholic schools in Ontario have been funded since 1841.
At the time, they were seen as a way to protect the Catholic minority in the pre-Confederation Canada West.
The system has been questioned as other religious and cultural minorities have become more prevalent in Ontario, and a human rights committee of the United Nations has said the province should either fund all religious schools or none at all.
The Green Party is calling for the systems to be combined, as is the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.
Martin says some people in the major three parties may see the benefits too, but don’t consider it an issue worth taking electoral risk on.
“It’s not the sort of thing that is going to make people vote for (a party), but it would definitely alienate some people,” he says.
Wayne Buchholtz, chair of the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this story.
In a previous interview, Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association president Marino Gazzola said an amalgamated system would need the same number of teachers, meaning cost savings wouldn’t be significant.
