The Citizen, 2002-05-22, Page 6Wingham & District
Hospital Corporation
Election of Directors
Elections will be held for one Director in the Central Zone, one Director in
the South Eastern Zone, one Director in the North Eastern Zone, one
Director in the Western Zone and two Directors at Large at the Annual
Meeting on June 13, 2002. Interested individuals may call Brenda Ritchie,
Executive Assistant at 357-3210, Ext. 216, or Jack Stafford, Governance
and Nominations Committee Chair at 335;3604, or Judith Gaunt, Chair,
Board of Directors at 357-3577 for more information and an outline of the
Duties and Responsibilities of a Director.
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PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2002.
Funding good news for this school board
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
Following new financial
commitments in both the recent
Speech— from the Throne at the
Ontario Legislature, as well as in a
recent announcement from the
province's education ministry, not
all school boards in the province are
satisfied. The Toronto District
School Board, for example, suggests
it still needs tens of millions of
dollars to avert widespread cutbacks.
But for school boards like those in
Huron and Perth Counties, though
they too would prefer more money,
many of the target funding areas in
those announcements are expected
to hit home in a positive way.
Avon Maitland District School
Board business superintendent Janet
Baird-Jackson summarized the
recent announcements at a regular
board meeting Tuesday, May 14.
And though she cautioned there have
been no specifics about where
exactly money will be spent, the
general goals of new premier Ernie
Eves' government seem to have been
established.
Baird-Jackson explained that, in
the Throne Speech of May 10, prior
to the first legislative session under
Eves, the government promised to
now tell school boards how much
money would be made available
over a multi-year term, instead of
just year-by-year. This helps all
boards, especially since they are
now required by law to sign multi-
year contracts with unions
representing their employees.
The government also made sure to
use the Throne Speech to reiterate
earlier announcements of new
funding for textbooks, special
education teaching materials and
early learning initiatives. And the
Education Equality Task Force was
established, to study ways of
"improv(ing) fairness, certainty and
stability for our schools and our
students," and report back to the
government by Nov. 1, 2002.
It was an announcement later that
day from new Education Minister
Elizabeth Witmer, however, which
seems to have answered several of
the concerns raised over the past few
years by farm-country, rural, and
sparsely-populated boards. Because
of demographic, social and
economic factors, many of those
boards have been hit hard by the
interrelationships between declining
enrolment and the Conservative
government's per-pupil funding
formula.
Part of the announcement
addressed areas of declining
enrolment directly, committing $23
million to such boards. "This is good
news for the Avon Maitland District
School Board, which has been
requesting a declining enrolment
grant from the ministry," said Baird-
Jackson, before noting that half of
the province's boards are getting
smaller.
A doubling of the so-called "Local
Priorities amount" for providing
educational basics — calculated on a
per-student basis — should also
have more effect in these regions
than in growing boards. That's
because declining-enrolment boards
increasingly have to spend the same
overhead costs to keping schools
open, even though they're operating
further and further from full capacity
each year, and less Local Priorities
money is coming in over-all.
Transportation also received
another boost in Witmer's
announcement, following up on a
recent one-time commitment of over
$600,000 for the current year's
expenses and easing the financial
pains for boards which must
transport a great number of their
students. Baird-Jackson estimated
the Avon Maitland's share of the
new funding would be roughly equal
to this year's one-time amount.
The business superintendent made
it clear the recent announcements
won't save the board from further
cutbacks, however, cautioning that a
shortfall in the current year's budget
had to be covered through reserves.
"This infusion of revenue will help
mitigate against the cuts the board
contemplated," her report states.
She also explained that, despite
the short timelines and the failure of
the government to so far release the
specifics of its educational grants,
school boards will still be expected
to complete their 2002-03 budgets
by the end of June.
She advised trustees to prepare
themselves for some hastily-
convened and lengthy budget
deliberations, perhaps by
establishing an ad hoc committee
which can be ready to meet
whenever the government's numbers
are received.
Resident
surprises thief
On May 15 at approximately 2:30
p.m. Huron OPP were contacted by
a man who discovered a stranger
inside his hbme on Morris Road.
The victim said he arrived at his
summer home that day around 2
p.m. A small, white, older-model
hatchback was sitting in his
driveway. The residence's door had
been forced open.
Once inside the man confronted a
white male in his early 20s who
immediately fled the scene. A box
which had been loaded with a
number of items at the front door,
was quickly left behind by the
culprit.
The suspect is slender, over 6 feet
tall, with medium length dark
brown hair.
Huron OPP would appreciate any
help the public could provide in
finding this man. If you have any
suspects in mind or information on
the vehicle please call the Huron
OPP or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-
222-8477(TIPS).
New approach
Karen Schieman of Let's Talk Science, visited with the
primary students at Blyth last week. A group at the
University of Western Ontario formed a curriculum club to
enhance science in elementary schools. The program offers
fun and exciting curriculum-based activities. (Bonnie Gropp photo)
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