How Government Initiatives Help Teachers' Effectiveness

 Staples: have we got a deal for you!  Shutterstock

 

"We know that many teachers have been paying out-of-pocket for supplies."

"While school boards receive funding for classroom resources, we have not always seen those dollars consistently reach every classroom."

"That is why we are putting funds directly in the hands of teachers to ensure their classrooms are equipped to support student achievement."

Ontario Minister of Education Paul Calandra

 

"This $750 is, for the most part, more than what teachers have been given in the past, but the problem with it is that school boards are best equipped to navigate these things."

"I would suspect that the prices at Staples -- if not now, then soon -- will cost much higher than what you could get in bulk at the board level."

David Mastin, president, Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario 

 

"We were like, 'No, that's got to be a mistake' ... surely they don't want us to pay almost $5 for a set of Crayola markers. Surely, that can't be the discount for us."

"It's sending the message that taxpayer dollars don't matter. Teachers' time scouring the sites to figure out what the best deals are doesn't matter."

Kimiko Shibata, teacher, Waterloo, Ontario

Education Minister Paul Calandra announced that a Staples portal can provide Ontario teachers with competitively low prices on 221 essential classroom products. The province had decided to provide $750 annually for all Ontario elementary teachers to enable them to purchase needed classroom supplies and that Staples was chosen by the province to provide a purchasing portal at the lowest possible prices for classroom materials.

 

It took little time for teachers, given access to the portal, to discover items appeared to be more costly through that portal than the prices appearing on Staples' main website. The Classroom Supplies Fund, a new initiative undertaken by the Ontario government to address teachers personally paying for classroom supplies, revealed the province's no-bid agreement with Staples to host Service Ontario counters in its stores.

 

Teachers had been pre-surveyed and had taken part in focus groups in an effort to fully understand which were the essential items to be discounted on Staples' new store set up specifically for the provincial teachers under agreement with Supply Ontario. That included writing utensils, paper, art supplies and classroom decor. When some teachers logged on to the site they found some essential items not to be available at the lowest possible price.

 

Staples Canada argued that their pricing for "core items" identified by teachers "are the lowest available at Staples". Many other items, outside those initially identified 221 items, are contained as well in the offerings at the portal. Items, Staples emphasized, that "are priced the same or less than can be found at Staples in-store or online". 

 

Ontario has launched its online classroom supply portal, providing elementary homeroom teachers a $750 allowance through a provincial deal with Staples. Some educators say the portal's prices are higher than those in store.  CBC

 

"[Teachers identified 221 essential items during the government's survey and focus groups, and those items] are the absolute cheapest  you can find across Staples or across any platform."

"We have an example of pens that are $8 on the Staples website, and I think it's 81 cents for teachers."

Education Minister Paul Calandra 

Staples location in Etobicoke. Photo: Staples Canada

  

"I've seen a couple of TikToks that say, 'Oh my gosh. The ministry is screwing us."

"If you find a mistake, then let your principal know. [They] can tell us, and we can work with Staples to fix it."

Education Minister Paul Calandra