Tories want to offer math teachers incentives as Ontario test results fall

TORONTO – The Progressive Conservatives say the Liberal government has made a mess of Ontario’s education system, spending billions more dollars only to see test scores fall.

PC education critic Rob Leone says Ontario spends $8.5 billion more each year on education than it did when the Liberals were first elected in 2003, even though there are 250,000 fewer students.

He says Ontario’s Grade 8 math results have been falling for 10 years, as have science test scores.

The Tories want to offer incentives to good math teachers to work in under performing schools, and Leone says they would also return to teaching the basics, such as making sure all students learn the multiplication tables.

Education Minister Liz Sandals says 71 per cent of students now meet the provincial standard, up from 50 per cent 10 years ago, and asked Leone to “stop trashing public education.”

Sandals told the legislature Ontario got a lot for the extra money spent in education, including full-day kindergarten, new specialist high-skills majors programs and a much improved high school graduation rate.

Leone says the Tories want to focus on student success while the Liberals and New Democrats fight to see who can cozy up closest to the powerful teachers’ unions.