HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-10-12, Page 7THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1988. PAGE 7.
OPEN, Riddell meet at ho-hum affair
BY TOBY RAINEY
The meeting between members
of the local branch of the Ontario
Public Education Network (OPEN)
and Huron MPP Jack Riddell at the
Education Centre in Clinton on
September30 turned outtobe a
ho-hum affair, with little new
information presented by either
side.
In presenting their plea for
additional funding for Huron
County public schools and their
opposition topublic funding for
private schools, several OPEN-
Huron members read from a
prepared script, and were then
answered by Mr. Riddell, also
reading from a prepared script. No
questions from either side follow
ed, and the meeting broke up for
refreshments.
Most of the information presen
ted by the OPEN members was
simply rehashed from a previous
meeting with Mr. Riddell shortly
after his re-election in 1987, with
the same shortfalls and cutbacks in
both provincial and local funding
illustrated with charts and graphs,.
while Mr. Riddell was only able
once again to promise to take the
group’s concerns to Queen’s Park,
while at the same time defending
the government’s fiscal policy.
The only new information in
OPEN’s document came from Phil
Parsons and Flo Keillor, represen
ting the Huron branches of the
Ontario Public Teachers’ Federa
tion (OPSTF) and the Federation of
Women Teachers’ Associations of
Ontario (FWTAO) respectively.
Both teachers alluded to the
dangers OPEN feels must be faced
if a recommendation of the Mac
Donald Commission, now before
cabinet, becomes a reality - that of
“pooling” local commercial and
industrial tax assesssment for
re-distribution by the provincial
government.
If cabinet accepts the recom
mendation, OPEN feels that public
school funding could be reduced
further as the government directs
tax dollars toward provincial fund
ing for separate schools, which in
most cases have a lesser tax base
than do public schools.
“Public education will be a key
issue in the upcoming elections,”
warned Mr. Parsons. “The need
exists to preserve our local public
education system by ensuring that
its (local) tax base is protected. The
suggestion that commercial and
industrial assessment be used as a
means to capture additional re
venue for distribution to separate
schools demands a culpable re
sponse.”
In response, Mr. Riddell said,
“Asyou wellknow, (provincial)
funding is related to the tax base of
(a) board. That formula is based on
fairness across the province, and
on (a board’s) specific ability to
raise (local) taxes.”
As an expression of its concern
over the issue of pooled assess
ment, the Huron County Board of
Education later voted unanimously
(at its October 3 meeting) to
support a request from the Ontario
Public School Trustees’ Associa
tion (OPSTA) to help fund a
province-wide drive for $1 million
on behalf of OPEN, part of which
will be used to “convince the public
Blyth euchre begins
Fourteen tables of euchre were
in play at Blyth Memorial Hall on
Monday, Oct. 3.
Winners were: high lady, Mil
dred McNall; high man, Nora Kelly
(playing as a man); low lady, Ida
Proctor; low man, Albert Quipp,
Brussels; ladies’ lone hands, June
Jacklin, Brussels; men’s lone
hands, Hazel Reid, Londesboro
(playing as a man); special,
Marjorie McDougall and Cliff
Hoegy?
There is a euchre every Monday
night at Memorial Hall.
and elected representatives that
any attempt to weaken the pubic
school tax base will be totally
unacceptable.”
The OPSTA’s request is that
each public school board in the
province contribute one one-hun
dredth of one per cent of its overall
budget, which in the HCBE’s case
would be approximately $4,800.
“I think it’s time we stood up to
be heard on this issue,” said
Donald McDonald, HCBE trustee
for Brussels and Grey Township,
who made the motion accepted by
the board.
OPEN was formed on a province
wide basis just prior to the 1987
election to act as a lobby group for
public education. It consists of
trustees and directors in 80 school
boards and in three teachers’
associations representing more
than 80,000 public school teachers.
Together, they deliver educational
services to more than 1.2 million
elementary and secondary school
students each year.
Although the network was form
ed partially in response to what
many public educators felt was an
injustice in the extension of full
publicfunding to separate schools,
fragments the education system
and reduces board accountability,
OPEN nevertheless accepts the
move as a fait accompli, with the
Huron delegation assuring Mr.
Riddellin 1987 thatitwould not
“comment on it any further.”
However, some of those involved
still apparently use the terms
“separate” and “private” schools
interchangeably, an indication of
the depth of their feelings as a
result of Bill 30.
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