Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk issued her annual report this week. Not surprisingly her staff discovered and uncovered sums of money that were spent ill spent.

Among her findings, as reported by CBC, Ontario disbursed more than $200 million to businesses that weren’t eligible for pandemic relief programs. Of course, we understand that errors will occur when government is called upon to deal with immediate human and business needs, especially during an unrelenting period of crisis (in this case public health) and when eligibility criteria may be vague or misapplied. The “loss” of so large an amount of funds is never to be condoned or justified.

What strikes us, however, as utterly unjustifiable is the juxtaposition of the $200 million mis-expenditure against the government’s unbending refusal to spend any funds to protect children in independent schools (including Jewish schools) against the very same pandemic perils for which they justified the expenditure of some $30 billion in Covid-19 relief.  According to the CBC, “pandemic programs for businesses totalled $11.2 billion, or about a third of the money allocated for provincial COVID-19 relief.”

Our quarrel is not with the attempt by Queen’s Park to aid individuals and businesses fight the pandemic. Our quarrel is with the heartlessness of the government in not spending even the smallest penny to protect children in independent schools from that same pandemic, as if these children were not also threatened by Covid-19.

And as we have pointed out in the past, even when the federal government gave Queen’s Park $763 million to spend specifically to help schools protect their children from Covid, the Premier and the Minister of Education disbursed none of it for the health and protection of the 150,000 children in the independent schools.

The government points with self-congratulations to its record of public assistance for pandemic relief and protection purposes. But we also know that Queen’s Park perpetuates discrimination in the education sector even, as we can now see, in relation to the health of our children during a public health crisis. In this regard, the government simply remains heartless in Ontario.

•••

Moral suasion, private lobbying, public advocacy and plain parental pleading have failed over the past quarter century and more to get Ontario to ends its discrimination in education funding. The courts now are our only option to compel Queen’s Park to do the right thing. 

To help underwrite the lawsuit that GAJE is preparing, please click here.

(For further information, please contact Israel Mida at imida1818@gmail.com)

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom. Chanukah samayach.

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE),

December 3, 2021

As readers of this weekly update know, GAJE’s core mission is to try to help make Jewish education affordable for as many young families that seek it for their children. Our mission, of course, flows directly from the belief that Judaism is a blessing indeed for all humankind, not for the men, women and children who are Jewish. And that intense Jewish education is the best guarantor that our children will learn and know how to perpetuate Judaism for all generations to come. We support, endorse and encourage families that are able, to provide meaningful Jewish education to their children.

That is why we reproduce, in full below, an important message sent to the community this week from Daniel Held, Chief Program Officer, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto. It is vital that as many young parents be made aware that the community will help share the financial burden – for certain families – of providing a Jewish education for their children.

•••

“We are excited to share that applications for the 2022-23 school year are now open for UJA’s newest Jewish day school affordability program – the Generations Trust Scholarship!

“Think your family won’t qualify for day school tuition relief? You may be surprised! Find out in just two minutes how much you could save through our easy-to use online calculator.

“We believe passionately that every community member who seeks to grow in their Jewish knowledge should have the opportunity to do so. Research confirms the power of a day school education to build future Jewish leaders – and ultimately to create a community defined by high levels of Jewish identity and connections to Israel. Our entire community is stronger when children benefit from Jewish learning.
 

“For more than 40 years, UJA’s Tuition Assistance Program has enabled thousands of students to benefit from a day school education. Unfortunately, many families have not previously qualified for tuition assistance, but have struggled to afford day school with the growing cost of living in the GTA. The Generations Trust Scholarship was launched this spring to fill the gap – and hundreds of families are already benefiting.
 

“We are tremendously grateful to the leading community philanthropists who have made this important program possible. Help us spread the word that day school tuition relief is available for more families than ever across Greater Toronto!

“We encourage you to share this email with family or friends who may be interested.

“Sincerely, Dan Held, Chief Program Officer, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.”

•••

We urge you to check into THE GENERATIONS TRUST SCHOLARSHIP. It might work for your family.

•••

We also urge you to let the Government of Ontario hear your disappointment, if not anger, with its ongoing discrimination against the children in Jewish and other independent schools. It is unfair and unjust that the government supports the education of only one religion in the province. But it is utterly inexcusable and deeply hurtful that the government is completely indifferent to the health and safety concerns of the children attending Jewish and other independent schools arising from the Covid pandemic.

No other conclusion is supportable in light of the facts:

• Ontario distributed not even one penny to independent schools of the $763 million Safe Return to Class Fund distributed by the federal government to Queen’s Park for the benefit of all Ontario children ages 4 – 18 attending school.

• Ontario is distributing rapid testing only to “publicly funded schools”.

Is there no Covid-related jeopardy to the some 150,000 children in independent schools? Of course, there is. The virus does not discriminate. But the government does. What message caring for them does the government of Ontario send to their parents, grandparents and friends?

Moral suasion, private lobbying, public advocacy and plain parental pleading have failed over the past quarter century and more to get Ontario to ends its discrimination in education funding. Now that we see Ontario also discriminating in matters touching upon the health of our children during a public health crisis, we understand that the courts now are our only option to compel Queen’s Park to do the right thing. 

To help underwrite the lawsuit that GAJE is preparing, please click here.

(For further information, please contact Israel Mida at imida1818@gmail.com)

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom. Chanukah samayach.

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE),

November 26, 2021

Readers of this space know that GAJE is planning a lawsuit to try to end the Government of Ontario’s funding discrimination against Jewish (and other) independent schools. In the year 2021, in a society that cherishes its democratic rights and freedoms, it is deeply offensive that the Government of Ontario prefers and supports one religion above the others worshipped by Ontarians.

The historic founding agreement of 1867 by which the government justifies its ongoing support for the schools of only one religion is not a bar – nor was it ever intended to be – to the government from doing the right thing for Ontario children of other religious denominations learning in the province’s independent schools.  In contrast to the educational funding policies in Canada’s five largest provinces outside of Ontario, Queen’s Park perpetuates an antiquated, anachronistic system that perpetuates discrimination.

In the past, and quite clearly at present as well, Ontario politicians have argued that educational funding fairness will lead to the shredding of the province’s multicultural fabric or to the ruination of the public school system. These arguments are specious, empty of all substance, and proven to be so by the positive experiences of other provinces. Moreover, the Ontario politicians who continue to shield behind the arrangements and conditions of 1867 have turned experience on its head. For in truth, by standing on the hard rigid edges of discrimination, it is they who tear away at the full potential of our diverse societal fabric, actually diminishing the rich tapestry of the mosaic that is the Canada of 2021 the spirit of which is enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (S. 27).

And speaking of doing the right thing and standing for truth, we must question the judgements of officials at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) in relation to decisions that allow the State of Israel to be vilified under official TDSB sanction.

The CJN carried a story last week describing the fallout from a nasty lunch hour rally on November 12 at Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute, at which students chanted “free Palestine” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and carried signs displaying the same malevolent message.

Educators with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) say they will work to ensure that students and staff understand the “multiple meanings” of expressions about the Israel-Palestine conflict.

In response to complaints regarding the rally’s import, an executive superintendent and a superintendent of education, signed a letter in which they wrote:

“Those expressions mean different things to different people because of different lived experiences…Some members of the Jewish community have experienced these phrases as antisemitic and hateful. Some Palestinians use the phrases as a statement of their rights as people.”

The CJN reported that the school board said it “will work with staff and students to ensure they understand these multiple meanings and ensure hate is not part of the discussion.”

Of course, everyone in our society has the right to publicly speak their minds and to express opinions however factually incorrect, thoughtless, insensitive or plain galling. The rallying cry at Marc Garneau however were far more than thoughtless, insensitive and galling. They were a call to genocide. And, indeed, they were profoundly hurtful to members of the Jewish community.

That youthful organizers of the rally might be unaware of the truths underlying their public statements or the pain and anger they cause to others may not be surprising. But the educators and board members who authorized this form of verbal brutality should have known better.

The CJN reported that Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre (FSWC) and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) pointed out to the TDSB the harm created by such exceptionally frightful public displays by the students.

“It’s time the TDSB step up and take responsibility for allowing such a toxic environment to fester through its inaction on previous incidents of antisemitism, creating an atmosphere in which lashing out against the Jewish community is acceptable and Jewish staff and students are left feeling attacked and voiceless,” said Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, director of policy at FSWC.

The board “needs to take urgent, concrete action to address systemic antisemitism,” said Noah Shack, CIJA’s vice president, GTA. The incident at Marc Garneau is the most recent in “a series” of antisemitic incidents that have not been fully addressed by the board, Shack said.

Nothing will more blatantly and harshly shred the province’s multicultural fabric or lead to the ruination of the public school system, than allowing one of the storied and splendid communities  – in this case, the Jewish community – within the province’s multicultural structure to be constantly attacked, disparaged and reviled.

The right thing to do – for us and for the province – is to champion truth and fairness.

The full CJN article is available at:

https://thecjn.ca/news/tdsb-will-explore-multiple-meanings-of-slogans-following-pro-palestinian-rally-by-students/

•••

To help underwrite the lawsuit, please click here.

(For further information, please contact Israel Mida at imida1818@gmail.com)

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Shabbat shalom.

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)  

November 19, 2021

More than in most weeks, many of us sanctified some of the hours in our lives this week in the remembrance of “things past” – specifically, Kristallnacht and Remembrance Day. In truth, of course, what we remember is never merely drawn from the past but part of the immediacy and sustaining fibre of our lives.

Jews understand this deeply because our collective memory is the forge in which our links one to the other have been fashioned through the millennia. Memory is enshrined in our Holy Books. Our Holy books enshrine our values and traditions. Our values and traditions are who we are.

And it has been in the classroom by virtue of the love and the hard work of our teachers that our children – we – have learned precisely that: who we are. Irrespective of the locale, of the community, of the circumstances of our lives, the living stream of education and teaching has always nourished the Jewish people.

Even in the 11^th century, in correspondence to a Jew in Yemen aimed at providing comfort and empathy to a community in extremis dealing with the spectre of forced mass conversion, Maimonides still emphasized the preeminent importance of education.

“Now, all my fellow countrymen in the Diaspora, it behooves you to hearten one another, the elders to guide the youth, the leaders to direct the masses…It is imperative, my fellow Jews, that you make this great spectacle of the revelation appeal to the imagination of your children,” Maimonides wrote.

Thankfully, our community has an excellent teaching infrastructure and excellent teachers who know how to make “the great spectacle “of our religion “appeal to the imagination” of our children. Maimonides would be pleased to see this. But – if we are permitted to speculate – he would not be pleased to see that, despite the ongoing efforts of our community elders, the cost of educating our children is still beyond the reach of many young families.

•••

In the upcoming week the Government of Ontario will be “offering take-home polymerase chain reaction (PCR) self-collection kits to all publicly funded schools across the province.” (Our emphasis).  The health and safety of children in independent schools are once again ignored by the provincial government. We urge all readers of this update to bring their disappointment if not anger to the attention of their Members of the Provincial Parliament

•••

GAJE will soon launch a lawsuit to try to end the Government of Ontario’s funding discrimination against Jewish (and other) independent schools. We are deeply appreciative of the many individuals who have to date joined our cause, who have contributed in helping underwrite the legal effort. Thus far, we have raised half of the amount needed. Please encourage your friends to also join in our effort. If we do not care, who will?

To donate to the cause, please click here.

(For further information, please contact Israel Mida at imida1818@gmail.com)

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Be safe. Be well. Shabbat shalom.

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)  

November 12, 2021

Some ten months ago, in January, Ontario’s Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce proudly announced: “To ensure our schools remain safe in January 2021 and beyond…We will do whatever it takes to ensure our kids can continue to learn.” 

The minister had in mind enhancing and upgrading the abilities of schools to provide a safe learning environment for their students and to rapidly test students to detect the presence of the Covid virus. To help fund the ambitious but vital safety program, the province benefited from the federal government Safe Return to Class Fund. Indeed, Ottawa gave Queen’s Park $763 million for the express purpose of making Ontario’s schools more Covid-safe.

But when he spoke about doing “whatever it takes to ensure our kids can continue to learn” Minister Lecce had in mind only the kids who attend public school. The 150,000 children attending independent schools – denominational and non-denominational – were left on their own, to fend for themselves against the horrific pandemic threat even though the amount of money given by Ottawa to Queen’s Park was based upon the number of all children from 4-18 years old attending school in Ontario. (Our emphasis)

In August, three independent schools challenged in Court, Ontario’s refusal to disburse any monies from the Safe Return to Class Fund to protect independent school children. The court decision is still pending.

Further to his promise to “do whatever it takes to ensure our kids can continue to learn,” starting on November 15, Ontario’s schools will receive take-home rapid Covid testing kits. But again, Minister Lecce had in mind only “publicly funded schools.” And again, the 150,000 kids in the province’s independent schools have been left on their own.

In responding to the public health crisis wrought by Covid-19, the province differentiates between children in publicly funded schools and those in independent schools. By what measure of conscience, morality, public health planning or earnest concern for the safety of all children in their classrooms is such governmentally-originated discrimination justifiable?

It is not. It is unconscionable. Ontario’s indifference to the health of independent school children is stunning and unworthy of a government in Canada in the year 2021.

•••

GAJE hopes to soon launch a lawsuit to try to end the Government of Ontario’s funding discrimination against Jewish (and other) independent schools. We are deeply appreciative of the many individuals who have to date joined our cause, who have contributed in helping underwrite the legal effort. Thus far, we have raised half of the amount needed. Please encourage your friends to also join in our effort. If we do not care, who will?

To donate to the cause, please click here.

(For further information, please contact Israel Mida at imida1818@gmail.com)

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Be safe. Be well. Shabbat shalom.

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)  

November 5, 2021

Memorial commemorations were held across the Jewish world this week in tribute to the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks on the first anniversary of his passing Cheshvan 20. We would fail our consciences and be untrue to our belief in the pre-eminence of Jewish education as the gateway to celebratory, meaningful and purposeful Jewish life if we too did not reflect on his remarkable impact.

Thus, we reproduce excerpts of the commentary by Rabbi Lord Sacks of Parshat Matot-Masei that we printed in this space in the summer of 2019. His observation on the relationship between the Jewish people and education aptly depicts the belief that has animated our efforts these past six and a half years.

•••

…The fate of Jewish communities, for the most part, was determined by a single factor: their decision, or lack of decision, to put children and their education first. Already in the first century, Josephus was able to write: “The result of our thorough education in our laws, from the very dawn of intelligence, is that they are, as it were, engraved on our souls.” The Rabbis ruled that “any town that lacks children at school is to be excommunicated” (Shabbat 119b). Already in the first century, the Jewish community in Israel had established a network of schools at which attendance was compulsory (Bava Batra 21a) – the first such system in history.

The pattern persisted throughout the Middle Ages. In twelfth-century France a Christian scholar noted: “A Jew, however poor, if he has ten sons, will put them all to letters, not for gain as the Christians do, but for the understanding of God’s law – and not only his sons but his daughters too.”

In 1432, at the height of Christian persecution of Jews in Spain, a council was convened at Valladolid to institute a system of taxation to fund Jewish education for all. In 1648, at the end of the Thirty Years’ War, the first thing Jewish communities in Europe did to re-establish Jewish life was to reorganise the educational system….

It is hard to think of any other religion or civilisation that has so predicated its very existence on putting children and their education first. There have been Jewish communities in the past that were affluent and built magnificent synagogues – Alexandria in the first centuries of the Common Era is an example. Yet because they did not put children first, they contributed little to the Jewish story. They flourished briefly, then disappeared.

…Children come first, property is secondary. Civilisations that value the young stay young. Those that invest in the future have a future. It is not what we own that gives us a share in eternity, but those to whom we give birth and the effort we make to ensure that they carry our faith and way of life into the next generation.

For Jews, education is not just what we know. It’s who we are. No people ever cared for education more. Our ancestors were the first to make education a religious command, and the first to create a compulsory universal system of schooling – eighteen centuries before Britain.

The Rabbis valued study as higher even than prayer….The Egyptians built pyramids, the Greeks built temples, the Romans built amphitheatres. Jews built schools. They knew that to defend a country you need an army, but to defend a civilisation you need education. So, Jews became the people whose heroes were teachers, whose citadels were schools, and whose passion was study and the life of the mind. How can we deprive our children of that heritage?

…In a single generation, nowadays, there is more scientific and technological advance than in all previous centuries since human beings first set foot on earth. In uncharted territory, you need a compass. That’s what Judaism is. It guided our ancestors through good times and bad. It gave them identity, security, and a sense of direction. It enabled them to cope with circumstances more varied than any other people have ever known. It lifted them, often, to heights of greatness. Why? Because Judaism is about learning. Education counts for more in the long run than wealth or power or privilege. Those who know, grow.

•••

Following Rabbi Lord Sacks’ thought, how can we not do everything in our power to enable as many Jewish children as possible to know their heritage? Rabbi Lord Sacks was profoundly wise and committed with all his heart to a vital, thriving future for his people. His memory will be a blessing for all time.

•••

In the coming weeks, GAJE will announce the launch of a lawsuit to try to end the Government of Ontario’s funding discrimination against Jewish (and other) independent schools. We are deeply appreciative of the many individuals who have to date joined our cause, who have contributed in helping underwrite the legal effort. Thus far, we have raised half of the amount needed. Please encourage your friends to also join in our effort. If we do not care, who will?

To donate to the cause, please click here.

(For further information, please contact Israel Mida at imida1818@gmail.com)

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Be safe. Be well. Shabbat shalom.

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)  

October 29, 2021

The CJN reported this week that “enrolment at Toronto’s non-Orthodox Jewish day schools has increased for a second consecutive year, reversing a 17-year decline.” Some 3,861 students are enrolled in kindergarten to Grade 8, in non-Orthodox day schools, an increase from 3,805 last year; 1,231 students are enrolled in TanenbaumCHAT, an increase from 1,096 last year.

Daniel Held, Chief Program Officer of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto noted that the increase in enrolment is not only due to the schools’ quick and substantive response to Covid. The sense of community fostered in the various schools and their respective academic excellence, he pointed out, are also sources of strong attraction for parents and their families. The new UJA Federation grant program, Generations Trust, is also enabling more young families to enroll their children in day school.

The CJN article can be found at: https://thecjn.ca/news/the-cjn-briefing-october-20/

•••

The article in The CJN echoes similar observations about the phenomenon of the Covid-inspired discovery of day school education by a number of “new” families across North America. The findings were published by Prizmah, the Center for Jewish Day Schools, in a recent report entitled, Seizing the Moment: Transferring to Jewish Day School During the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The key findings of the report are:

• After a year being enrolled in Jewish day school – parents have largely been thrilled by their experience.

• Parents expressed appreciation for the quality of the educational and social dimensions of the experience at Jewish day schools.

• Jewish day schools are “nurturing environments,” “caring,” “warm,” “having a strong emphasis on community,” “welcoming,” “loving,” and “friendly.” When parents decided to transfer their children to a Jewish day school, these qualities were front of mind.

• Strong relationships contributed significantly to the positive experience of parents, with 85% identifying the strength, frequency, and variety of positive relationships at the school: among the students, among families, and between teachers and families. 

• Overall, three-quarters of parents plan for their children to stay at their new school. 

In commenting on the findings of the report, Prizmah’s CEO Paul Bernstein observed that “sending your kid to school is about much more than academics.” He is correct. It is about the kind of life we hope they will lead.

The article and the report can be found at:

https://prizmah.org/knowledge/resource/seizing-moment-transferring-jewish-day-school-during-covid-19-pandemic

•••

As followers of GAJE know, our effort to enable as many families to experience a Jewish education requires that such education be affordable to the largest swath possible of young families. And we are convinced that true, permanent affordability requires the Government of Ontario to end its discriminatory educational funding. Behind-the-scenes lobbying, up-front public discussion and all manner of moral suasion have failed to convince successive Governments of Ontario to undo the discrimination. Thus, in the coming weeks, GAJE will announce the launch of the lawsuit to try to end the discrimination.

We are deeply appreciative of the many individuals who have joined our cause, who have contributed to helping underwrite the lawsuit. To date, we have raised half of the amount needed.  Please encourage your friends to join in our effort.

If we will not try to end the injustice of Ontario’s educational funding discrimination, who will?

To donate to the cause, please click here.

(For further information, please contact Israel Mida at imida1818@gmail.com)

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

•••

Be safe. Be well.

Shabbat shalom.

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)  

October 22, 2021

Like every week, we are reading deeply instructive portions in the Torah reading cycle. This is the time of year when our ancestors Avraham and Sarah effect a revolution in the way much of subsequent humanity would forever imagine the world and understand the human place in the vast splendor and mystery of our earth and universe.

Avraham and Sarah did not fool themselves into believing their advocacy of a total moral-intellectual-spiritual sea change of thought would be readily adopted by his societal milieu. But nor were they daunted by the implications of the new view of human life they offered the world. They believed with all their hearts and with all the electricity in the pathways of their minds   that their vision was correct. They were not swayed by doubters. They were not convinced by naysayers.

It is Avraham’s and Sarah’s determination and resolution that inspire GAJE. We follow their example in having decided that the only lasting way to make Jewish education truly affordable for the majority of the families who seek it for their children is to turn to the courts.

We know that the path is not certain.

But we also know that not trying is a rejection of the revolutionary spirit that has animated Judaism from its very beginnings, that has made Jewish life vivid and sustaining. Shall we reject this world-changing, revolutionary legacy of our forebears? We cannot. We will not simply reconcile ourselves to accepting as right or just or in any way appropriate for our society in the year 2021, the injustice of Ontario’s discriminatory educational funding.

If we do not believe that remedying the injustice is possible, that “changing the world” is possible, then it won’t be.

And so, in the coming weeks, GAJE will announce the launch of the lawsuit to try to end the discrimination in Ontario’s educational system against the funding of independent schools, in our case, denominationally Jewish schools. We are deeply appreciative of the many individuals who have thus far joined our cause, who have contributed to helping underwrite the lawsuit. We are raised half of the amount needed.  Please encourage your friends to join in our effort.

This is our generation’s opportunity to permanently increase our children’s and grandchildren’s opportunities to experience meaningful Jewish education. If we do not try to do so, who will?

To donate to the cause, please click here.

(For further information, please contact Israel Mida at imida1818@gmail.com)

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

 •••

Be safe. Be well.

Shabbat shalom.

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)  

October 15, 2021

Last week, we shared with GAJE supporters a recent study by Cardus, on the financial cost of Ontario actually ending its discrimination against independent schools. Cardus, is an independent Canadian think tank whose research makes the case for tolerant, inclusive communal life lived on the basis of values that are rich in tradition and mutual respect focussing “on human dignity, strong families, religious freedom, formative education, and healthy communities.”

Part of Cardus’ purpose is to accompany the plea  – that Ontario to end its the unjust treatment of  families whose children attend independent schools – with facts and corroborated truths. Last week we referred to Cardus that provides the range of the possible costs for Ontario to fund its independent schools. That range extends from full funding to any of the many partial-funding models that already exist in Canada. The study pointed out that Ontario’s refusal to extend any funding to independent schools is “anomalous in both a global and Canadian context.” The study concludes that Ontario’s lack of financial support for independent-school students is “unjust and inequitable.”

Cardus concluded that the cost of ending educational funding discrimination would be “a relatively minimal cost,” from 0.3% to 0.8% of the budget, depending upon the model adopted by the provincial government.

This week we refer to a recent Cardus study by Ashley Rogers Berner, entitledGood Schools, Good Citizens: Do Independent Schools Contribute to Civic Formation?

Because it is imperative that GAJE supporters be aware of the substance and import of Funding All Students, we reproduce the study’s executive summary. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that public support of independent schools improves the civic capabilities of young people and leads “to a more civically integrated and politically engaged public.” In other words, it is demonstrably not the fact that the majority of independent school graduates stand aloof from the civic and social needs of their respective communities. Rather, they are more likely to plunge into the deep end of trying to enhance the wellbeing of the entire community and to pursue a broadly-based common good for everyone.

Because it is imperative that GAJE supporters be aware of this study too, we reproduce the study’s executive summary.

•••

Executive Summary

“The heart of democratic education lies in preparing the next generation to join the community of citizens. Indeed, state-funded public education developed out of the imperative to inculcate the civic knowledge, skills, and attachment necessary for democratic governance. But what is the role of independent schools in the process of civic formation and social cohesion? Do they help or hinder the development of democratic citizenship? What oversight should governments exercise over them? And should governments fund such schools as part of public education writ large?

“In all modern cases of which we are aware, explicit civic formation is seen as seminal to social cohesion. It is important, however, to understand that the goal in most cases is not to reinforce cultural homogeneity, but rather to create the conditions in which a heterogeneous population might negotiate their political differences through democratic processes and institutions.

This coincides with how most democracies understand public education. In this light, all forms of education remain within the public’s interest and concern, as other people’s children’s lives (including workforce participation and social well-being) and political involvement (understanding democratic institutions, analyzing legislation, and voting) shape ours. This is the long-established justification for taxpayer-funded education and mandatory school attendance. For this reason, independent schools are often included in modern democracies’ understanding of public education—and why their independent schools receive state funding and are held to common academic benchmarks alongside state schools.

“The vast majority of democracies have pluralist education systems: where the state, individuals, and civil society play equally important roles in democratic education. The goal of such educational pluralism is to maximize the freedom of schools to create their own organic communities with a common ethos and distinctive practices, while assuring the public of academic and civic quality with respect to outcomes.

“Is there evidence that this balance leads to success? Individually and collectively, the preponderance of findings on independent-school attendance after controlling for family background illustrate that the fear of independent schools’ negative impact on civic life remains misplaced. For example, a recent analysis of thirty-four quantitative studies on the effects of independent and state schools on civic outcomes yielded eighty-six separate statistically significant findings; fifty showed a clear independent-school advantage, thirty-three found neutral effects, and only three showed a state-school advantage.

“Independent schools can offer substantial benefits to civic formation. They do not inherently harm social cohesion as some critics fear; indeed, on almost every measure, independent-school attendance enhances civic outcomes. Thus, democratic policy-makers can have confidence that expanding access to independent schools while ensuring their quality is likely to enhance the civic capabilities of young people and lead, eventually, to a more civically integrated and politically engaged public.

“Democracies are fragile. Each generation must prepare the next to take up the rights and responsibilities of citizens; schools bear an outsized burden in this process. Independent schools, in particular, play a positive role in inculcating the knowledge, skills, and habits that animate lifelong democratic participation. The key is honouring religious, philosophical, and pedagogical beliefs of families and students while ensuring robust knowledge-building for all.”

The complete study is available at:

Good Schools, Good Citizens

•••

GAJE will soon announce the launch of a lawsuit to try to end the discrimination in Ontario’s educational system against the funding of independent schools, in our case, denominationally Jewish schools. We are deeply appreciative of the many individuals who have thus far joined our cause, who have contributed to helping underwrite the lawsuit. We are raised half of the amount needed.  Please encourage your friends to join in our effort.

This is our generation’s opportunity to permanently increase our children’s and grandchildren’s opportunities to experience meaningful Jewish education. If we do not try to do so, who will?

To donate to the cause, please click here.

(For further information, please contact Israel Mida at imida1818@gmail.com)

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

 •••

Be safe. Be well.

Shabbat shalom.

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)  

October 8, 2021

In the past, GAJE has referred to original research by Cardus on matters touching upon education policy in Ontario. According to its website, “Cardus is an independent think tank located in the heart of Canada. It is dedicated to “helping people live together at their best” and strives to work “toward a healthy society.”

Cardus’ research makes the case for tolerant, inclusive communal life lived on the basis of values that are rich in tradition and mutual respect. As its website states, the think tank “focuses on human dignity, strong families, religious freedom, formative education, and healthy communities.”

Cardus has just published a study that brings information not conjecture, fact not myth, to the important question of how much it would actually cost the Government of Ontario to end its educational funding discrimination against the families and children of independent schools.

Funding All Students: A Comparative Economic Analysis of the Fiscal Cost to Support Students in Ontario Independent Schools is co-authored by David Hunt, Anointing Momoh and Deani Van Pelt. It is invaluable in the discussion about fair, equitable funding in the education of all of Ontario’s children.

Because it is imperative that GAJE supporters be aware of the substance and import of Funding All Students, we reproduce the study’s executive summary.

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Executive Summary

“This study presents the hypothetical economic costs of funding Ontario’s independent schools, if the province were to fully fund the sector or apply any of the existing partial-funding models in Canada.

“But before conducting the cost analysis, we first establish context and ask: Why should Ontario fund students at independent schools? Simply, as education is a socially formational good, society has a general interest in the education of the next generation of citizens. It is on this basis that taxes are raised to fund any child’s education. But as a morally formational good, parents have a prior and universal right to choose—and deeply personal interest in—their child’s education, and thus these public funds should follow families to their preferred school.

“Accordingly, funding is the norm around the world, as well as in Canada. Globally, 73 percent of countries at least partially fund independent schools—only one OECD country does not. In Canada outside Ontario, 75 percent of independent schools and 84 percent of independent-school students are partially publicly funded. Put differently, Ontario’s lack of funding is anomalous in both a global and Canadian context. We discuss the four main objections to funding and conclude that Ontario’s lack of financial support for independent-school students is an unjust and inequitable policy—uncharacteristic of a democratically elected government, especially in an advanced economy—that further disadvantages the already disadvantaged.

“To rectify this eccentric and unjust policy, there are seven funding schemes, all taken from actual practice in Canada, to estimate the cost of funding students in Ontario’s independent schools. (Our emphasis) The first applies full government funding to Ontario’s independent sector. Alternatively, Ontario can partially fund independent schools using a similar approach as any of the other provinces that partially fund this sector—from west to east: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan (two models), Manitoba, and Quebec. (In each of the seven funding schemes, the model recognizes that not all independent schools would qualify for or accept government funding, and this fact is accounted for in the analyses.)

“Each cost estimate factors into the respective model three plausible enrolment scenarios—our best estimates of the lower bound (scenario 1), most plausible case (scenario 2), and upper bound (scenario 3) of first-year enrolment levels that will result from implementing any of the seven options. Scenario 1 is based on no change in enrolments. Scenario 2 assumes a 7.8 percent first-year increase in enrolment, based on the experience of a short-lived Ontario policy introduced twenty years ago. And scenario 3 assumes an 18.3 percent first-year increase in enrolment, based on the most recent Canadian experience of a similar policy change—Saskatchewan’s expansion of funding for independent schools through the creation of the new Qualified independent school category.

“Applying these three scenarios to each of the seven provincial funding schemes results in twenty-one cost estimations, ranging between $535.2 million and $1.539 billion in net annual cost to Ontario taxpayers. For context, within the scope of Ontario’s $186 billion annual budget, this is around 1/3 to 4/5 of 1 percent (0.3% to 0.8%) of the budget. In other words, any of these funding options is a relatively minimal cost to substantially benefit the families who need it most.”

The complete study is available at:

Funding All Students

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GAJE hopes to soon announce the launch of a lawsuit to try to end the inequity and the discrimination in Ontario’s funding of the educational system. We are deeply appreciative of the many individuals who have thus far joined our cause, who have contributed to helping underwrite the lawsuit. We are approximately half way to the amount needed.

This is our generation’s opportunity to do the right thing for our children’s and grandchildren’s Jewish education. Please encourage your friends to join in our effort. If we do not try, who will? 

To donate to the cause, please click here.

(For further information, please contact Israel Mida at imida1818@gmail.com)

Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.

 •••

Be safe. Be well.

Shabbat shalom.

Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)  

October 1, 2021