Dear supporters,
Short version: our petition did not work in the short term. IB students will be charged fees starting in the 2020-2021 academic year. But there is more we can do. At least the petition has brought us together, and if enough of us organize together, we can reverse the cut. Email no.ib.fees@gmail.com to get involved in the next steps of this campaign!
*** There will be an opportunity for parents of Parkdale Collegiate Institute students to ask Chair of the Board and Ward 7 Trustee Robin Pilkey questions about the TDSB cuts including the cut to the IB program. Pilkey will attend the PCI Parent Council meeting on Thursday October 17. The meeting starts at 7 pm in the school library. ***
A Fuller Update:
Our petition and its signatures were emailed to Board Trustees on June 11. As you probably know, the Board decided to go ahead with the proposed cuts at their June 19 meeting.
Despite our petition, the trustees decided to:
“Continue the Secondary IB Program but change fee requirements: The TDSB will continue to offer the IB Diploma program at the secondary level, but staff propose that associated per-student fees will no longer be covered by the TDSB. At the secondary level (9-12), 12% of IB students come from families who earn less than $50,000 per year. If this direction is approved, a sliding scale will be created to support IB Diploma students who would benefit from financial support.” (This can be found on page 15 of the approved budget document here: https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/0/AboutUs/Budget/TDSB%20-%20Committee%20of%20the%20Whole%20(Special%20Meeting).pdf )
It looks like their minds were made up well before the meeting, and before they read all the deputations that were sent to them. In fact, less than two hours after I emailed the petition, the Chair of the Board and Ward 7 Trustee (PCI's own trustee) Robin Pilkey emailed me back to say:
"Currently the TDSB is the only board in Ontario (and possibly Canada) not charging a fee for this program. We do understand that this may cause a financial hardship for some students and in order to avoid limiting the ability to participation, the TDSB Equity Fund will be used to ensure that this does not become a barrier to access. For further information on the fund, please see the Q&A from June 7 at this link on the TDSB website:
https://www.tdsb.on.ca/About-Us/Business-Services/Budgets-and-Financial-Statements/2019-20-Budget
I would note that these fees are to offset the fees the IB organization charges the TDSB. Staff have been attempting to work with IB to see if the costs could be moderated (for example, having teacher training in Canada versus having to go to the US) but at this point IB is not interested in working with us.
Unfortunately, with a $67M shortfall, cuts will have to be made and to do so, programs, like this one may have to be reorganized in a different way. Trustees and staff are working hard to ensure that there are minimal cuts to students in classrooms."
Some questions for Pilkey are (for starters):
- How is the TDSB going to guarantee there is enough money in the equity fund (currently only at $333,000!) to fund 100% tuition fees for all IB students across the TDSB in financial need?
- How will you define financial need?
- Exactly how much will each student be charged?
- Why was the decision to charge tuition for IB made before all deputations deadlines had passed?
- How are you going to guarantee PCI stays open despite these changes?
Questions for ALL OF US to consider:
- What will it take to reverse this cut and keep PCI open?
- What are we going to do as a community to keep IB free and PCI open?
Send us an email to stay involved! no.ib.fees@gmail.com