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Paul W. Bennett: State of education lost in Nova Scotia budget storm

Education and improving student learning were already low priorities for Tim Houston’s government. The Nova Scotia budget crisis and disruptive service cuts have knocked the state of education and everything else off the provincial news feed.

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Completely lost in the maelstrom are some critical subterranean issues. Post-pandemic declines in literacy and numeracy, ongoing school violence, cost overruns, the erosion of instructional time and e-learning gaps remain largely unaddressed in our P-12 schools.

So far, the official Opposition and the Liberal Party rump group have also been giving the play-it-safe, admittedly agreeable Education Minister Brendan Maguire a free ride. Former NSTU president Paul Wozney, appointed NDP critic for ethics and accountability, is absorbed in rooting out PC patronage and corruption. Lost in the coverage was his move from the education file to play “caped crusader” exposing “private interests” and probing “shady decisions and secretive practices.”

Holding the Department of Education to account has been left to Peter Day and the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union, Bedford-based Unplugged Nova Scotia and anonymous critics like Nova Scotia School Eyes.

Unaddressed issues remain below the surface and cry out for closer scrutiny and corrective policies.

Declining student performance in a time of increased spending

Post-pandemic student achievement in Nova Scotia continues to stagnate. The latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results covering 2012 to 2022 are indisputable.

Mathematics test scores for 15-year-olds declined by 27 points, science scores declined by 24 points and reading scores declined by 19 points. Over 10 years, the math, reading and science scores of Nova Scotia students dropped by more than a full grade.

Spending more on K-12 education may not be the answer. From 2013-14 to 2022-23, spending on public schools increased nominally by 47.3 per cent (or 10.8 per cent after accounting for changes in student enrolment and inflation). The recent Nova Scotia “Right to Read”-inspired structured literacy program is a bright light. It’s time to consider other meaningful curriculum reforms in mathematics that don’t require extra spending.

Persistence of school violence after implementing 2024 code of conduct

Some 27,108 recorded incidents of physical violence were reported in the 2024-25 school year, up from 21,398 the previous year but approaching the number racked up in 2022-23, immediately following the pandemic.

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That’s significant because provincial auditor general Kim Adair raised an alarm in June 2024 about its prevalence and the department claimed that a new school code of conduct would curb the record numbers.

A CBC Nova Scotia investigation in January called into serious question the claim that a new code with spelled-out disciplinary consequences would make a difference. NSTU president Day told CBC that posting a new code is not enough to stamp out the problem.

Cost overruns and food waste in school lunch programs

Maguire did surface in January, rising in defence of the province’s $80-million free school lunch program, funded in part by a federal transfer of $12.4 million over three years. With some 3.6 million lunches served up to December 2025, Maguire and his officials were scrambling to address inconsistencies in food quality and service across all elementary to junior high grades. What’s clear is that the school system is now a branch of social and community services.

Student preferences and tastes contributed to considerable food waste and plenty of discarded food containers. A year into implementation, the department was looking at phasing in the use of reusable food containers. A provincial audit of the school lunch program would be most instructive for taxpayers.

Looking ahead, with a heads-up

School snow days have really piled up and, so far, been accepted with a collective shrug. System-wide shutdowns have closed schools seven times: Dec. 15, Jan. 19, 26 and 27, and Feb. 2, 12 and 24. There’s no official data because it’s not aggregated or reported by the Education Department or the districts (regional centres for education). The totals, to date: seven to 11 full days lost across the province.

It appears that pandemic school shutdowns (for 13 weeks in 2020-21) taught us little because there’s no sign of a movement to convert cancelled days to e-learning days.

Complacency has set in but it may not last. In New Brunswick, provincial advocate Kelly Lamrock can be counted upon to rattle cages with reports like Wake-Up Call (September 2025) exposing ineptitude and negligence in the school system.

After three years of foot-dragging, the Houston government will finally be opening a provincial child and youth advocate office in 2027. Stay tuned for the next earthquake, when the Nova Scotia auditor general delivers an Education Department student assessment audit later in the year.

Paul W. Bennett is director of the Schoolhouse Institute, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and founder of researchED Canada.

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