As we head into March Break, let’s take a second to reflect on some recent announcements affecting different parts of our education system.
Or, as I referred to it internally, two wins and a loss.
The big win was in Picton, where the province gave the green light to award the tender for the $24.5 million dollar contract to build a new St. Gregory Catholic School. It’s a huge project which will provide 354 student spaces for decades. That’s great news.
The province also dealt with one of the largest shortfalls in the entire system.
Starting September 2026, elementary school homeroom teachers in publicly funded schools will receive $750 every year to buy classroom supplies, and have them delivered right to their schools. That’s long overdue and another very positive move.
And then, the loss. Student demonstrations have been held in several local communities about changes to OSAP…moving from a system of mostly grants to mostly loans and grants only paying up to 25 percent of post-secondary costs.
Now you can’t win them all, but I always marvel at a system where we more fully fund the development of young minds and then stop when it’s time to help young people develop careers and become self-sufficient and contributing members of society.
Post-secondary education, especially skills-based training that students would get at Loyalist College, is vital to not only them but our society and the multiple industries that depend on an influx of new talent.
It’s not good math to add things on one end but subtract it at the other at the expense of everyone’s bottom line.
I’m Paul Martin and that’s what I see looking Beyond the Headlines.
