HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-11-01, Page 4C The North Huron
itizen
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Publications Mail Registration No. 6968
CNA
BLUE
RIBBON
AWARD
1995
Stone path
Photo by Janice Becker
Letters
THE EDITOR,
The recent editorial originating in
The Wingham Advance Times,
proclaiming a 'travesty of our
education system' if the board
places a limit on the number of
credits a student can take, is a
reasonable position if the
recommendation were to restrict
educational opportunities for our
young people.
One must be aware, however,
that secondary school graduation
currently requires 30 credits. Many
students take more than 30 credits.
Two students (as at June 5, 1995)
were taking their 41 credits.
Even if you agree that students
should continue to access more
than the minimum requirement, say
32, at the time of our survey, there
were about 1,701 credits being
taken beyond that level. The
additional cost - beyond the
graduation require-ment phis two
more credits for good measure, is
costing local taxpayers somewhere
from a half to three-quarters of a
million dollars in extra operating
costs annually.
Another related problem is that
students can sign up for a full
schedule and can also drop credits
during the year. In recent years this
has led to an additional
unnecessary staffing expenditure of
over half a million dollars a year.
Together, that's $1 million extra
each year. We MUST dare to look
at some reasonable compromise
position. As the lead educator in
the Huron Public Education System
it would not be responsible for me
NOT to ask that the Board and the
Ministry examine this question in a
THE EDITOR,
It's time for the provincial
government to recognize what
public school boards have known
for a long time — that sharing staff
and services with other school
boards is an effective way to save
taxpayers' money.
No one argues with the need for
school boards to find new ways of
doing business and to cut costs in
ways that don't affect student
programs and services. Yet the
recently released interim report of
the Ontario School Board
Reduction Task Force didn't
provide any evidence that cutting
the number of school boards by 50
per cent will reduce education
costs, which was the purpose of the
$250,000 task force.
The Ontario Public School
boards' Association (OPSBA)
supports amalgamating school
boards where it has been proven
that it is in the best interest of
students and is financially
advantageous to the local taxpayer.
In actual fact, the evidence has
proven that co-operation among
school boards results in greater
savings than does amalgamating
boards.
Public school boards fear that
local property taxpayers in some
time of financial crisis and
downsizing.
Sincerely,
Paul Carroll
Director of Education and
Secretary-Treasurer.
communities across Ontario would
be the big losers if school board
amalgamations occur. This fear is
based on the fact that merging
boards also means merging the
boards' assessment, taxation and
grant structures, as well as
programs and services. While some
communities' taxes would go down,
other communities' taxes would go
up.
Furthermore, studies have
confirmed that, without a complete
overhaul of the way in which
education is funded in Ontario,
amalgamation would mean big tax
increases in some cities and towns
across the province. Co-operative
ventures, however, allow public
school boards to pass along savings
to all local property taxpayers.
OPSBA wants the provincial
government to pass legislation that
requires all school boards to share
staff and services with other boards
so that taxpayers save as much
money as possible. For several
years, many public school boards
have been involved in co-operative
ventures with other boards,
including joint purchasing, shared
busing, computer consortia, staff
reorganization and joint hiring.
These activities save millions of
Continued on page 6
Education Director states case
Writer argues amalgamation
PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1995.
Voting with your dollars
The "big box store" invasion of western Ontario is nearly complete
with the opening of huge new Zehrs, Wal-mart and Zellers stores. For
many, the openings don't make any economic or business sense, but
they may change the face of
our towns and villages forever.
Retailers who know a thing
or two about the amount of
revenue needed to support each
square foot of store space, feel
there isn't possibly enough money in the region to keep these mammoth
stores alive. Scratching their heads, they wonder what the thinking
behind the stores is. Many ordinary shoppers, however, are quite happy
to abandon their local merchants and flock to the supposed bargains in
the new stores.
It's a not-so-nice side of the mentality of many small town people
that they resent the business people on their main street. The perception
(often mistaken) is that these people are all rich and have made their
money by overcharging local people. These people are happy to run to
the big stores and be just like their city cousins. Ironically, people who
resent local business people doing well are quite happy to stuff their
money into the pockets of three of the richest family operations in the
world: Sam Walton's (Wal-Mart); Lord Kenneth Thompson (Zellers)
and Garfield Weston (Zehrs).
But when people want a favour, when they want a door prize for a
local meeting or uniforms for a hockey team, it isn't Lord Thompson or
Garfield Weston who pitches in, it's the local business people. If they're
still in business.
The market place is like democracy. When you spend your dollars
you are voting for a way of life with your bucks. Every dollar you take
away from your own community and put into the hands of billionaire
owners, is helping to shape the future of your own town.
The choice is yours. If you want a main street full of abandoned
buildings, use your bucks to vote for the billionaires. If you want a
healthy community, support the people who will support your
community back. You will decide the future. — KR
Canadians don't like risks?
So, Canadians are a cautious people, afraid to takes risks, are we? So
name one other country that plays a game of political "chicken" quite
the way we do!
Quebecers, of course, were the latest people to stare political
upheaval in the face before Swerving at the last moment. In a way,
though, Canadians elsewhere played this game first. By opposing
Meech Lake, by voting down the Charlottetown Accord that our
political leaders had agreed to, we dared Quebecers to take Canada as it
is, or leave it. Monday they almost left it.
It's quite possible to challenge the legitimacy of the 49.4 per cent
vote for the "Yes" side, given the trickery of the question itself and the
master illusionist Lucien Bouchard who managed to convince many
people that Quebecers could be sovereign and still be comfortably
inside Canada at the same time. Given the volatility of the votes,
however, it would be useless to pretend things won't have to change.
But what does Quebec want? Or more to the point, what will a
strong enough majority of Quebecers accept as the price they need to
stay with Canada? Can those wishes be accommodated without
dismantling Canada anyway?
Quebecers will say they want the tools to protect their language and
culture and most moderate Canadians would agree to give them the
power they need. But many of the demands in the past haven't had
much to do with the protection of language and culture and much to do
with a power grab by one provincial government. Will Quebecers
accept tools that will help preserve language and culture but that don't
turn Quebec into a country within a country?
Canadians in general see Canada as a federation of 10 provinces.
Quebecers see it as a union of two founding people. But while many
Canadians support the idea of two founding people, including all
Canadians of French language across the country, Quebecers see it as a
territorial model with their province representing the French fact.
They're written off French-speaking Canadians outside Quebec.
The problems have just begun. We'll need patience and wisdom to
prevent ourself from staring self-destruction in the face again. — KR
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