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More effort needed to promote Catholic schools |
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Written by Michael Swan, The Catholic Register
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Friday, 28 September 2007 |
 TORONTO - Into a maelstrom of controversy over whether tax dollars should fund religious education, the Institute for Catholic Education has released its report on what 10,000 parents, teachers, school trustees and students had to say last year about the present state and future of Catholic schools.
The ICE report concludes that Catholics want a stronger effort put into promoting and defending Catholic education. At the same time, poll results and public debate show not much support for publicly funded religious schools — including Catholic schools. The Progressive Conservative party’s election promise to extend funding to non-Catholic religious schools is drawing fire and funding for Catholic schools is being questioned.
Twenty-seven of 29 Catholic school boards across Ontario hosted open forums to discuss the future of Catholic education between November 2006 and May 2007. One of the most frequent requests from parents and trustees was that more be done to let people know how Catholic education contributes to the whole province, said the concluding document “Our Catholic Schools 2006-2007.”
“We need to celebrate our achievements and contributions to the world,” said the report. “Through media, we should demonstrate our distinctiveness as well as foster our Catholic identity.”
Meanwhile a Harris/Decima poll released Sept. 11 found that 50 per cent of Canadians opposed giving any public funds to religious schools, while 32 per cent supported spending public money on faith-based education. In Ontario the margin was 54 per cent against, 34 per cent in favour.
An Environics poll Sept. 13 found 47 per cent of Ontarians agree with the Green Party position which would eliminate Catholic school boards.
When it comes to the Conservative promise to fund non-Catholic schools, an SES Research survey released Sept. 15 found 28-per-cent support, versus 40 per cent who oppose. A Strategic Counsel survey taken Sept. 13 to 16 found 71 per cent in Ontario oppose extending religious school funding.
“The primary reason for opposing the extension of public funds to private faith-based schools is a strong desire not to mix religion and education,” said Strategic Counsel researchers.
Ottawa Catholic District School board chair Kathy Ablett isn’t buying the poll results. For Ablett the provincial election debate is over how and whether to fund non-Catholic religious schools and does not involve the Catholic education community.
“I believe the majority in this province believe in Catholic education, and in public education as it exists today,” Ablett said.
Ablett’s majority doesn’t include Ontario Institute for Studies in Education professor Michael Fullan, a close advisor to Premier Dalton McGuinty on education policy. Fullan told the CBC Metromorning radio program he would like to see the separate Catholic element in Ontario’s publicly funded education system eventually phased out, though he opposes any change in the short term because changing the funding system would distract from efforts to improve literacy and numeracy.
“The deal with the Catholic system was 1867. This is not 1867,” Fullan told Metromorning Sept. 18. “The future depends on working on the public institution, on social cohesion as well as standards. It would be a retrogressive step to extend faith-based funding.”
A Sept. 20 letter to the editor of the Toronto Star signed by 45 prominent Ontarians — including astronaut Roberta Bondar, Chapters-Indigo owner Heather Reisman and others — argued that Catholic schools are acceptable only because they are increasingly “small c catholic.”
“If we were starting a new system of education in 2007, who among us would recommend spending public money on a religion-specific basis?” they asked.
“I don’t think there’s any need for panic,” said Ablett.
Ablett argued that removing funding from 650,000 students and their voting parents in the Catholic system would be political suicide for any party and Catholics need not respond to every argument tossed out during the election campaign.
“Once this election campaign is over and we see how the dust settles, and we see where it settles, then it may require further dialogue,” she said.
Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association president Bernard Murray said it was too early to say how the education community might act on the ICE report’s recommendation.
“It’s important that we share with the community the value that our system brings to the province. We have made a contribution,” Murray said.
“Somewhere, somebody is going to have to talk about four fully funded systems. That’s what we have in Ontario,” said ICE executive director Joan Cronin.
Holding on to the funding Catholic schools won a generation ago will require maintaining schools people recognize as Catholic, Cronin said.
“We’re going to work at our Catholic identity and Catholic distinctiveness,” she said.
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Michael Swan, The Catholic Register |
| About the author: |
| Michael Swan is Associate Editor of The Catholic Register. He is an award-winning writer and photographer and holds a Master of Arts degree from New York University.
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