As the school year ends and families prepare for the summer, we must confront a hard truth: Bermuda’s public education reform is at a crossroads.

The recently tabled 2025-26 education budget outlines the Government’s plans to spend nearly $150 million on Bermuda’s public education system, the largest education budget in our history. At first glance, this level of investment should be welcome news for students, parents and educators alike. After all, who would disagree with a commitment to improving our schools?

And yet, as a senator and someone deeply committed to the future of our children, I see a troubling disconnect between spending and outcomes, promises and progress.

The transition to a two-tier system, the closure of middle schools, the creation of parish primary schools and signature senior schools was marketed as bold and transformative. But what I have seen is something very different: confusion, frustration, dwindling enrolment and a growing lack of trust.

Take Purvis, one of the Government’s flagship parish primary schools. This year, only five students are enrolled in Year 8. When families are opting out of public education, we need to ask why. The answers are clear: missing programmes such as art and music, a lack of communication and unclear academic direction.

Meanwhile, signature senior schools, once promised for 2025, have been already delayed to 2026. Why? Because the infrastructure is not ready, the planning is not in place, and the public were never truly brought along. Students and parents are being left to deal with the consequences of decisions they had no voice in.

And then there are the students — the reason we’re doing this in the first place. I see targets for critical exams such as the iGCSEs and City & Guilds Employability Skills Certifications set as low as 50 per cent or 60 per cent, and still not being met. That is unacceptable. If our goal is excellence, we must raise both our expectations and our support systems.

This is not about politics; it’s about people. It’s about young Bermudians who deserve a public education system that prepares them for whatever path they choose: college, skilled trades, entrepreneurship or the workforce.

I believe in reform. But I also believe reform must be thoughtful, inclusive, transparent and focused on results, not just headlines or construction projects.

The One Bermuda Alliance believes in putting students first. We want to see stable leadership, clear plans and real partnerships with parents, teachers and principals. We want to see accountability in how funds are spent and honest conversations about what’s working and what is not.

We cannot afford another year of delays, miscommunication and missed opportunities. Let’s work together, across parties and across communities, to build a public education system that gives every Bermudian child the chance to thrive.

Because when our children succeed, we all succeed.

• Victoria Cunningham is an opposition senator and the One Bermuda Alliance spokeswoman for education