LESBIAN ON EDUCATION MINISTER

The Toronto Star - 2006.09.19
Wynne tapped to end funding feud
By Daniel Girard and Tess Kalinowski,
Toronto Star With Files From Rob Ferguson

Good thing Kathleen Wynne is so well-schooled on education issues because there's little time to cram for her first big test. Ontario's new education minister, who was sworn in yesterday as part of a three-minister mini-shuffle, assumes the Liberal government's key post at a critical time. Three Toronto-area school boards are locked in a showdown with Queen's Park over deficits, others warn of looming staff and service cuts to keep their books balanced, and parents and students are concerned and angry. How Wynne, 52, deals with these issues will go a long way to determining the outcome of the provincial election just a year away. It's a tough assignment for any politician, let alone an MPP first elected in 2003 on a platform opposing school cuts. Potentially it puts Wynne in the position of battling the many allies who have supported her ascent from parent volunteer to head of Ontario's $17.2 billion school system. But there's a sentiment among those in the education community that the Don Valley West MPP is as ready as anyone could be to negotiate the difficult task.

There's also talk in some quarters that the appointment of Wynne - a former educator, school board trustee and one-time mediator - to replace the politically pugnacious Sandra Pupatello is a sign the Liberals may be ready to acknowledge that the school funding system they claimed to have fixed may need a larger overhaul. "Appointing Kathleen is a recognition that there are fundamental problems that have got to be dealt with," said Annie Kidder of People for Education, who worked closely with Wynne, co-founder of the Metro Parent Network, fighting policies of the two-term Progressive Conservative government. "Politically, now that there's a new person in there, you don't have to look like you're backtracking or giving up or giving in," she said.

Pupatello, who replaces a retiring Joe Cordiano as minister of economic development and trade, has continually maintained that the budget problems faced by school boards are self-inflicted. She notes the Liberal government has put about $2.6 billion into the system since it swept to power as enrolment fell in many jurisdictions. While the money is welcome, trustees say the government has still failed in its campaign pledge to fix flaws in the school funding formula introduced by the Tories in 1998.

Four years ago, Wynne led the charge against exactly the kind of cuts that trustees in both Toronto boards and the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board are now opposing, including outdoor education, special education supports, school secretaries, swimming pools and caretakers. She was the acknowledged leader of 11 Toronto District School Board trustees who steadfastly defied the Conservatives by refusing to make $90 million in cuts to balance the budget. "How does she reconcile the government's current position with her own from 2002?" said Toronto Trustee Patrick Rutledge, who sat on the opposite side of the cuts debate. "I think she has been put in an awkward spot." Ultimately, the refusal to cut the board's budget gave the Conservatives the legal right to send in a supervisor who usurped the trustees' power.

 Rutledge said the appointment of Wynne hints at "appeasing Toronto and displays a move to the left."

Sheila Ward, chair of the Toronto District School Board, said she harbours no illusions that her longtime friend comes to the job with a wheelbarrow full of cash somehow denied her predecessors - Pupatello and Gerard Kennedy. Still, the appointment is the best thing the Liberals have done for public education in three years, she said. "This year we'll see more progress in education than we have in the last 10 years," Ward said. "She knows how tough the problems are. She also knows there is a lot we can do to make it better."

Speaking to reporters in Cobourg yesterday, Wynne said she remains "totally committed to public education" but had few specifics, the Toronto Star's Robert Benzie reports. "We're working with the boards," Wynne said in reference to the three boards' budget woes. "Kids should have what they need in the classroom to succeed and that's what we're doing." Last week, Dufferin-Peel Catholic trustees refused to erase a $16.6 million deficit by cutting staff, busing and programs. The TDSB is facing a deficit of $84.5 million. The shortfall in Toronto's Catholic schools is $34 million.

Wynne, a mother of three children who went to city public schools, holds a Masters in Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. She cut her political teeth on parent councils and as an activist. As MPP, she was parliamentary assistant to both her predecessors. She has a reputation of being honest and direct. During her time as a ministerial understudy she handled the difficult special education and adult education files. She is also Ontario's first openly lesbian cabinet minister.

Toronto Catholic board Chair Oliver Carroll said Wynne "still has the same fiscal realities" as her predecessors but Wynne's experience is a big asset. "You need somebody with a broader understanding of the issues and I think Kathleen Wynne has that. There's no learning curve," he said.

Embattled Dufferin-Peel Catholic board Chair Peter Ferreira was surprised to learn of the appointment of a third education minister within the year his board has been battling the government on its deficit. "We are hopeful that she will bring a new perspective to our situation and move beyond her two predecessors' flawed position that the McGuinty government has committed sufficient funding to education. As a trustee, Kathleen knew all about the realities of underfunding. She is now in a position to do something about it," he said.