SDG Counties’ Rural Education Committee got down to business last week, holding their first official working meeting and setting some priorities of what it plans to do this term. The biggest priority for this group is collecting data – which when it comes to the public education system in Ontario – is no small or easy task.
Inaccurate data has been pointed out as one of the causes that some communities lost their Upper Canada District School Board schools during its 2016-17 Pupil Accommodation Review process. While inaccurate or incomplete data was not the sole reason for closure of schools like Benson Public School or the Grade 7-12 portion of Rothwell-Osnabruck School, data issues did not help those advocating to keep those schools open.
During the 2018-22 term of SDG Counties council, an education consultant hired to help that government advocate for their rural schools found many issues in acquiring an accurate picture of school size, enrolment and staffing numbers, and programs offered. UCDSB schools are more transparent with basic numbers even published through school information profiles. The three remaining coterminous school boards, the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario, Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario, and Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien were less forthcoming. It has been documented in open council that the consultant had to enlist the help of then MPP Jim McDonell and even contact the Ontario Ministry of Education to obtain basic enrolment data. This data secrecy is inappropriate considering all four boards are funded by the provincial government – vis-a-vis the public.
That the SDG Rural Education Committee now has to commit time and funds from its $15,000 yearly budget to undergo this exercise again is inappropriate – because all parties involved are funded through the province. This speaks to a wider issue of a lack of government transparency.
In 2023, it took nearly six months of inquiries by The Leader to obtain information on the additional Ministry of Long-Term Care funding for Dundas Manor. In obtaining that information, many excuses were made, including citing that financial information being published may drive up the price of a construction project.
Public means just that, public. Government exists for the public benefit, and is funded by the public. Only personal health records and personal details of government employees should remain private – same for matters of national security. Data like how much more public money is going to help pay for a much needed LTC home expansion, or how many Grade 4 students are enroled this year in the nearly 25 elementary schools in SDG is not vital to national security. Knowing that data is vital to the public in judging how well its schools are doing. Public data is public, and should be available without barriers.