Catholic parents fear the massive March 15 education cuts are just the opening salvo of a campaign to fold Ontario’s Catholic schools into a unified public system, while French Catholic trustees are warning of much deeper cuts to come.
“What is the end goal?” asked Annalisa Crudo-Perri, president of the Ontario Association of Parents in Catholic Education. “Of course, we’re always worried about the one system.”
At meetings with the Association of Catholic Bishops of Ontario March 19, Crudo-Perri warned the bishops that the separate, Catholic system is under threat.
“There have to be times when you have to make a statement, and this is the time,” said Crudo-Perri.
The larger class sizes mandated by the changes in education policy are an existential threat to French Catholic education and all of Ontario’s smaller school boards, chair of the Association of French Catholic School Boards Jean Lemay said.
“It will be devastating,” said Lemay. “Yesterday morning we were able to talk to our directors of education, all eight of them. They came down with a list of lost positions. Hundreds of teachers will have to be let go.”
Education Minister Lisa Thompson has repeatedly claimed no teachers will lose their jobs