Call it the revenge of Gen X.
Ontario Liberals would bring back Grade 13 on a trial run if elected, Leader Steven Del Duca announced Friday.
"This is going to be a structured option for our kids," he told reporters in front of Kitchener's Forest Heights Collegiate Institute. He was flanked by a dozen or so high schoolers who had been pacified with Tim Hortons muffins.
"Structured so that they can get more mental health support, so that they can learn more about personal finances, so that they can learn more about civics and citizen engagement and all of the tools that they need to be able to catch up from the past couple of years and be set up for success heading off to post-secondary or to their future careers."
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Steven&#39;s gladhanding with some <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/youths?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#youths</a> (Timbit bribes not pictured) <a href="https://t.co/b6lhAZN6ys">pic.twitter.com/b6lhAZN6ys</a>
&mdash; Jack Hauen (@jackhauen) <a href="https://twitter.com/jackhauen/status/1522556477457715202?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 6, 2022</a></blockquote>
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The idea is that kids who have lost quality schooling time due to the pandemic would have a chance to catch up before they head out into the real world, Del Duca said.
Students would be able to pick from courses on things like mental health, personal finance and civics. He said he'd work with stakeholders to decide what courses should be offered.
A Liberal government would fully fund Grade 13 for four years at a cost of $295 million, after which they'd re-evaluate it, Del Duca said.
He said he didn't have an estimate for how many students would take Grade 13, but that anecdotally, lots of them seem into it.
One reporter asked for a show of hands from the gaggle of youths behind Del Duca: who would do Grade 13? Nearly all of them — perhaps cognizant of the free Tims — raised their hands.
Del Duca didn't have a timeline for when Grade 13 would return, but said he'd move "urgently." He said he'd like students who are currently in high school to have the option.
<a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2022/05/04/del-duca-gives-ontarians-a-choice-highway-413-or-new-schools/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Del Duca gives Ontarians a ‘choice’: Highway 413 or new schools</a>
Ontario hasn't had Grade 13 since 2003. High schoolers can still take an optional fifth year if they want — the so-called "victory lap" that Del Duca said amounts to "sort of an arbitrary, 'I don't know what I want to do next. Let me stick around.'"
He said a full Grade 13 would "say to students, 'It's OK if you need the time. If the last two years have been so difficult that you need the time to recover, and to get back up on your feet, so you are confident and ready to go off to what comes next for you, we've got your back.'"
Del Duca also promised on Friday to expand the Student Nutrition Program, which provides breakfast to kids in low-income families. He said he'll lay out the means testing in his full platform, to come in the next few days.
Friday's event capped off a week of education-related announcements from Del Duca. If elected, he's pledged to:
<ul>
<li>Bring back an optional Grade 13</li>
<li>Build 200 new schools and repair 4,500 more</li>
<li>Cap class sizes at 20 in Grades 1–12</li>
<li>End mandatory online courses</li>
<li>Hire 10,000 teachers</li>
<li>Hire 5,000 special education workers</li>
<li>Hire 1,000 mental health workers</li>
<li>Expand the Student Nutrition Program</li>
<li>Replace EQAO testing with different assessments</li>
</ul>
The Liberals, like the NDP, haven't released a fully-costed platform yet, but the Grits' full education <a href="https://ontarioliberal.ca/education-plan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plank</a> is now out.
Del Duca admitted his goals are "ambitious," but said he's up to the task.
"Our public education system in this province is the great equalizer. It is great social policy. It's also phenomenal economic policy," he said. "For example, for every dollar we invest in the right way in public education, we get a return on that investment of $1.30.... So let's invest."
<a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2022/05/05/liberals-out-cap-the-ndp-on-classrooms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Liberals out-cap the NDP on classrooms</a>
Of course, it's not as simple as spending money. Attracting 10,000 teachers — especially rural and northern areas — would likely be a monumental task.
Del Duca said he's confident that many of the 80,000 certified teachers in Ontario who aren't teaching in the public system — whether they took early retirement, went to private schools or changed careers — will come back when they see what he's doing.
"I've met with many who have made the decision over the past four years, starting in the first two years of the Ford Conservative government — when they were under undermining, and cutting, and increasing class sizes, going to war with front-line education workers — there were a lot of people who left the profession. Well, I want them back if they're interested, if they're able," he said.
There is also the question of whether teachers will rush back into the arms of the Liberals, with whom they fought a <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2022/02/02/ontario-elementary-teachers-awarded-103m-as-remedy-for-liberals-bill-115.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bitter court case</a> and went on strike multiple times.
Also on Friday, the Progressive Conservatives launched a <a href="https://www.delducawynneliberals.ca/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a> aiming to paint Del Duca and former premier Kathleen Wynne as one and the same.
"Steven Del Duca was Kathleen Wynne’s right-hand man for 15 years of scandal, waste and mismanagement," the party said in a release. "He sat by her side as they raised taxes, killed jobs and made life more expensive."
New Democrats also reminded voters that the Liberals froze education worker wages, saw classroom sizes increase and left a $16-billion repair backlog.
"Andrea Horwath will fix what the Liberals and PCs broke, by reversing Ford’s cuts, clearing the school repair backlog the Liberals left behind, and hiring 20,000 educators," the NDP said.
The Liberal leader said voters should look forward, not back.
"Look, this is a new leadership in our party, a new Ontario Liberal team," said Del Duca, who has been a card-carrying Grit since he was 15.
"I think when (teachers) look at our plan, they look at the new leadership in our party, they look at the new candidates who are running alongside me, they will realize that we are devoted and dedicated to making sure that we get public education right in this province."

Liberals would bring back optional Grade 13

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