Cuts will damage educational equity

Back in January of this year, the Leader-Post published a letter I wrote about the OECD PISA results (Don’t let education fall victim to cuts, Jan. 19). Basically, it’s a global measure of academic performance of school systems.

At that time, the local media reported that Saskatchewan was last among the provinces on a number of measures. Both government and Saskatchewan Teachers Federation officials publicly minimized the report’s findings.

What was not made clear, and what my letter tried to point out, was that on one particular measure, educational equity, Saskatchewan outshone all other provinces. In essence, according to the PISA report, it doesn’t matter (as much) if you are rich or poor, what colour your skin is, where you are from or where you live — your chances of receiving a quality education are better here than anywhere else in the country, and indeed most of the world.

On Aug. 2, none other than the BBC published an article calling Canada “an education superpower,” and explicitly cited the equity measurement as a key factor in our national educational excellence.

My message in the January letter was to encourage government to “stay the course.” Unfortunately, budgetary and policy decisions have been made that will directly and negatively impact the locally ignored but internationally celebrated achievements of our nation and more specifically, our province.

What a shame.