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6 economist suntribune thursday oct 31 2002 s stouffville tribune serving the community since 1856 a metroland community newspaper 9 heritage rd markham ont l3p 1m3 publisher ian proudfoot editorial province should take over negotiating teacher contracts on the face of it striking bradford teachers have a point they deserve to be paid the same as fellow teachers at neighbouring school boards their union maintains they are the lowest paid catholic teachers in the province someone teaching in bradford for 10 years would make 59800 but the same teacher could drive 15 minutes south and make 69800 with the york catholic district school board said brent hamelin president of the simcoe muskoka catholic secondary teachers association if quality education for all students regard less of where they live is the driving force in the public school system its an untenable situation its just one more reason the province should step forward and centralize bargaining with its 123000 teachers while it remains the sole area of financial clout within the hands of local trustees the reality is the province controls the amount of money with which they can negotiate most provincial teacher contracts expired last summer but boards across ontario are turning out empty pockets as a result of a fund ing formula they say is inadequate while the bradford teachers union is sug gesting it will agree to a 7percent increase over two years board spokesperson diane legge said meeting that demand will require concessions in other areas or cuts to programs its a reality underlined by the york region district school board when it petitioned the education equality task force last month for a formula that recognizes the reality of the costs of programs and operations with about 80 per cent of board budgets dedicated to salaries a key issue is the teacher salary grid the provinces salary grid provides rates lower than those paid by most boards since its establishment in 1998 there has been one increase of 195 per cent while a supporter of the perpupil funding formula the york board stated like every other school board in the province our board is spending more on teacher salaries than the amount contained in the funding formula and the difference is increasing annually the consequence of this is that virtually every aspect of the funding formula is distorted translation programs such as english as a second language and special education get the short end of the stick the teachers unions now set a provincial pay standard thats used as bargaining leverage at every board while the local boards are at a disadvantage without a centralized position simply bumping up the salary grid of the funding formula based on the average grid of the largest boards and providing annual increases would be the easiest solution if the province isnt prepared to implement that measure it has to step into the fray opinion letters to the editor many helped markhams contribution to run for the cure thanks to all the family members relatives and friends who took part in the second annual markham departure courtesy of laidlaw transit for the cibc run for the cure in toronto we had a great day and everyones time and generosity were appreciated we were 80 peo ple in total and we raised a whopping 10671 to fight breast cancer thanks also to laidlaw transit in markham which was ready to donate as many buses as we needed to get us all down town and back safely if the cure is not found in the next 12 months were looking forward to an even big ger turnout next year annasearles markham canadian soldiers fought for freedom not preserving monarchy re monarchy important to keep despite politicians comments letter to the editor by john shaw oct 19 mr shaw is quite wrong in claiming not defending the monarchy means breaking the faith with canadian veterans and war dead these heroes and heroines served in the armed forces to defend our freedom and way the economist sunstoufifville tribune welcomes your letters all submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number name and address the economist suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space write letters to the editor 9 heritage rd markham i3p 1m3 email letterseconsuncom of life that they knew would evolve constitu tionally and democratically few would believe they acted to preserve for all eternity an institution that is increasing ly and rightfully seen as obsolete and irrelevant except of course by those who enjoy lining up to wave and coo bow and curtsey before these very dull royal celebrities is it not amazing that there are still people like mr shaw who proudly claim to live in democracy and yet choose to have the highest position in die country occupied by someone who achieves this position not by intelligence or skill or effort or popular vote but by accident of birth such a choice is absolutely medieval feudal and prehistoric do people like mr shaw ever wonder why canada does not have dukes and earls mar quises and counts its simple we realized a long time ago how archaic classridden snob bish and ridiculous such empty tides and hon- orifics truly are like the monarchy james rb kelly markham editorial editor jim mason neivsroomeconsuncom advertising retail sales manager steve kane sievekyorkregioncom sales manager new business development distribution dawna andrews dandreivserabannercom classified manager aim campbell anncerabanncrcom real estate manager mike rogerson production electronic communications manager john futhey jfiillicyyrngcom distribution distribution manager barry black bblackeconsuncom administration office manager vivian oneil voneileconsuncom york region events managing director debra weller divelleryrngcom shows manager staceyallen sallenyrngcom york region printing general manager bob dean bdeanymgcom editorial 9052941100 fax 1941538 advertising 1941100 classified 1-800- 7433353 fax 853176 distribution 9051948144 canadian ontariopress circulations audit council board member stouffville tribune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the stouffville tribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distributing lid a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 community publications across ontario the york regin newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hid and thomhill vaughan citizen markham economist sun stouffville tribune stouffville sun georgna advocate york regrdn business rimes at home good ufeyorkre0oncom and york region printing editor in chief debora kelly business manager robert lazurko director marketing new product development brenda larson advertising director retail flyer sales nicole mathieu advertising director classified real estate events management gord paolucci dave teetzel fixing education show us the cash it was a strange bit of deja vu on tuesday liberal education critic gerard kennedy visited the same york region neighbourhoods the tories once used as their back drop to launch their packages of educa tion reforms mr kennedys message its time ernie eves and company admitted they tried some things in good faith that just didnt work now somebody has to clean up the mess education is clearly intended as a centerpiece of mr mcguintys cam paign and why not its an important issue that affects just about everyone in the province in some way or another but i picture shellshocked teach ers students and parents all pleading please stop fixing education honest well vote for anyone who promises to leave the schools alone for just one month actually the liberal policy pam phlet talks about that mr kennedy calls it a peace and stability plan and the gist of it is to let educators run the school system with less help from politicians and provincial bureaucrats so how does the liberals platform- compare to local frontline concerns as oudined by the york region district school board at the rozanski commis sion on education funding the liberals slag the one size fits all funding formula that ignores local needs for example it doesnt recognize some boards need to spend more on busing and others have more esl or special education students york region has all these issues but our public school board says the fund ing formula itself which funds schools on a perstudent basis addresses basic issues the only problem is the govern ment isnt providing enough money and thats exacdy where die liberal platform like so many campaign promises breaks down ambitious and worthwhile goals are assigned politically correct but inadequate funding sources mr mcguinty pledges to provide smaller elementary class sizes a 50- percent improvement in test scores and improved subsidies for child care he will pay for all this by cancelling tax credits for parents who send their children to private schools and not run ning selfserving ads the private school tax credits havent been fully implemented so that money isnt even in the kitty while flooding tv programming with govern ment propaganda is an enormous waste of money eliminating it wont provide enough cash to make a dent in education budgets across the province i would be a lot more excited about this education plan if mr mcguinty admitted he would be increasing taxes to implement it and give me an idea how much more id be paying