This week Statistics Canada released its report on how well our kids are doing in critical areas such as literacy, math and science. The study, called the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, compares the academic performance of 15 year old students across Canada and around the world. It is an indicator of how well individual provinces are doing in preparing students and how well we compare internationally.

For Manitoba, the report contained some very troubling results. It showed that over the past decade, our students have had one of the most dramatic declines in performance in the areas of reading, math and science. While the study showed that in 2000, our students performed among the best in Canada in these areas, ten years later, we had dropped to second last in the country, ahead of only Prince Edward Island.

In response to questions about why students were doing so much worse in school after a decade of NDP government, Premier Greg Selinger responded that they were spending more money on education than ever before. When questioned again as to why student performance in literacy, math and science would be so much worse than when they came into power, Greg Selinger said they were spending billions on education.

Those answers sum up much of the problem with the NDP government. Of course it is important to invest in our schools, our classrooms and our education programs. Everyone agrees that investing in education is one of the best things we can do to ensure the future success of our province. But what the NDP government doesn’t understand is that the most important measurement isn’t what you spend, it’s what our kids are learning.

The fact that Manitoba kids are now scoring second worst in the country on critical academic measurements after 10 years of NDP government shows that spending money without looking at the end results simply isn’t working.

NDP policies, like not allowing teachers to reduce the grades of students who hand in late assignments, have failed our kids. They have sent a message that school work and deadlines don’t need to be taken seriously. Policies, like the NDP no-fail policy, were responsible for advancing students into more difficult subject areas when they were not prepared, leading to further underperformance.

Manitoba is fortunate to have great educators and support staff who are professionals and who know how to get the best out of our students when they are given proper support. There is no reason our kids can’t be the best in Canada when it comes to school performance. But after 10 years of NDP education policies, it’s long past time the NDP realized that in the end the true measure of success in our schools is not how many dollars you spend, but how much our kids learn.