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Home My WebLink AboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1989-11-21, Page 19Huron County educators gave their provl member of Orlia- merit,' jack Riddell, an earful on education issues in what Mr. Rid- dell called a "hard-hitting session" earlier this month at Clinton. The Huron branch of°the Ontario Public Education Network has been meeting with Mr. Riddell annually for the past three years to vent frus- trations with education ministry policies and to create a better work- ing relationship between the min- istry and local educators. The network consists of represen- tatives of the teachers' federations, members of the school board and the director of education, Joan Van Den Broeck, vice chair- man of the Huron County Board of Education, opened the discussion with the general concern that the education ministry is placing new responsibilities on the local board, such as pre-school and adult pro- grams, adding that, "Decisions have been based on political expe- diency rather than development through a shared partnership.' "Raising expectations for new programs without providing new resources is treating the board side of the partnership with disdain," she said. Trustee Don McDonald spoke on the board's difficulty in trying to provide adequate school buildings with a general lack of provincial funding. "We want to say again that it is unfair to Huron County that the government provides new and elaborate facilities to growth areas of the province, but does not pro- vide for the rebuilding of Huron County farilitie Portable classrooms do not pro- vide a satisfactory school environ- ment, continued Mr. McDonald and as an alternative the board has con- structed permanent additions to seven schools in Huron this year, using money the ministry provides to supplement the purchase of portable classrooms. The decline in provincial funding for education was stressed again and again to Mr. Riddell. For exam- ple, in 1975, funding stood at 72.8 per cent, while today it has dropped to 56 per cent. "The transfer of costs to the local ratepayer has become intolerable," noted Mr. McDonald. "We were already one of the poorer public boards in Ontario in nothing m the system changes. terms of commercial and residential assessment," he added- "We received no sharing of the indu rj, al and commercial assessment with richer areas, but we are; ;IOW required to, share 7 -Our modest assessment base with the separate school board: fiii iancially, the future looks very bleak for the Huron pub-; lic school system." - 'Nancy McLay, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, told Mr. Riddell it would have been wise for the gov- ernment overnment to consult with the teach- ing profession before deciding to un -stream Grade 9 programs. The province has announced that in September of 1992, Grade 9 will consist of one program, like ele- mentary grades, rather than stu- dents being divided into basic, gen- eral and advanced levels. "The fact is that students do come to Grade 9 with definite abili- ty levels," she said. "We fear that putting Grade 9 students in un - streamed classes will bore bright students and frustrate those less able" TEACHER RECRUITMENT Phil Parsons of the Ontario Pub- lic School Teachers° Federation addressed the crisis that exists in teacher recruitment in Ontario. "That crisis is also being felt in Huron County," he said. "The number of teachers available is falling short of actual needs and there is a male-female gender unbalance which generates inade- quate role modelling, especially at the elementary level.recruit- mentMr. Parsons illustrated the gen- der imbalance by showing recruit- ment ofteachers a c Huta Co a`- over recent years. In 1985, no men were hired compared to 16 women teachers; two melt were hired in 1986-87, compared to 12 women; in 1987-88, three men and 18 women; in 1988-89, no men, 23 women and n 1989-900 five meand 32 women. "The ministry -of education, with the support of its educational part- ners, must assess this situation and must act to guarantee the, needs of the children in our public schools," said Mr. Parsons. In his reply to the network, Mr. Riddell began by answering the educators by pointing out the gov- ernent; s. financial. position: it is fa abciRfi 1 f� t b . lliAp•.,, which will go to\ $1.4 billion if the .Jetts $y er is ,riot about e said -Mr. Riddell "He's ping every ministry to fi_ndea* l /A, . The proviniai bindt .has incased by. 10 per cent each year onto 1955, but the:per-capita .debt in; Ontario stillis the lowest argong the provinces. • "If the province- and movie rat govenunent is expectect to exercise restraint, maybe municipal govern- ments should do the same," he sug- gested. uggest. Mr. Riddell admitted it would be difficult for him to speak to specific education issues, because it Y. not his field of expertise. ''But I wouldn't' want our, students and the media to go away from here thinking that the education system is in a deplorable state and the gov- ernment is doing nothing about it." The former cabinet minister pointed out that education costs have nearly tripled since 1975. Then it cost $988 to educate each elemen- tary school pupil for one year and $1,616 for secondary school stu- dents. Today, it costs $3,235 and $4,122 respectively and the province still covers 57 per cent of the cost. "When we sink more money into education, there's less money for sewage and there's less money for agriculture." Mr. Riddell defended the province's increased support of the separate school board. 'We've had two systems since Confederation. 1 think we all believe in the Charter of Rights and Confederation and 1 think the sepa- rate school board must be treated more e....Taitablv than in the past.:: Mr. Riddell said he would not accept the argument that the provincial government is institut- ing educational programs, such as junior Kindergarten, for political exdien p W d have a premier and col- leagues who are interested in giv- ing the -best possible education," said Mr. Riddell. However, he pledged to take the concerns of the board back to the education minister,`Sean Conway. "I agree, if the province is going to load on more programs,it should provide more resources," he concluded. RILL McG TH of Miingham showed wh it the well-dres ed man is wearing these days at last Monday evetlitog's Lions Club fashion show and dinner at'the Golden Pheasant Restaurant. .The Olive'13ra NOW OPEN Homemade - Sptisd Santivvi Muffins, DessettszC i9 I iw/l 'l Call us for your w faking oro r al! 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