The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Transportation cuts for chopping block: budget By TIM WHITNELL Special to The Champion Parents of many public school children taking spe- cialized classes around Halton will be relieved to know cuts to their trans- portation fundîng have been remnoved from the ongoing school board budget deliberations. Proposed budget cuts of $410,000 for tbe busing of Frencb immrersion students, $ 168,500 for tbe transportation of Englisb as a Second Language pupils and $ 162,900 for gifted students had been on tbe cbopping block up until jost before Wednesday's sebool board mneeting, wben a revised list of budget cuts was unveiled. Wbile parents of students in tbe specialized classes are likely bappy for now, final budget decisions will be rnade by tbe 11I trustees in late June. There are still $233900 in cuts proposed related to transporta- tion. Board Chair Etbel Gardiner said sbe will suggest busing rernain in place for students iniber bornetown of Georgetown, citing longer, rnore dangerous and more arduous walks for pupils tbere, particularly in winter. Haltons Catholie board bas granted a sirnilar busing exception to its students in tbe sarne area, sbe said. Beyond the busing issue, the Halton public board still bas rnany difficult decisions to rnake before it can aebieve a balanced budget. Tbe new list of iterns under con- sideration for reduction arnounts to $405 million, down frorn tbe $4.2 rillion proposed at tbe last rneet- ing. Board staff say tbey're working on tbe assurnption of receiving $28544 rillion frorn the Ontario Ministry of Education for tbe 2002-03 scboot year, based on the latest student enroîrnent projec- tions. Anotber $200000 was added frorn tbe I-lton boards reserve fund leaving it seekrng $405 rnil- lion in reductions. Tbere were several otber rnajor cbanges rnade to tbe proposed budget including decreasing the nurnber of new education assis- tants (EAs) to be placed in elernen- tary sebools next year, particularly for special education students. Tbe initial plan for 63 new full- irne equivalent EAs was down- graded to 37 recently and bas been further reduced to 27 additions, resulting tn a saving of $970000 in proposed spending. The drastic dilution of the tncorning EA complernent doesn't sit well with rnany trustees. "You are doing a great job," Ms Gardiner told board staff, "but it ix evident the kids will suffer greatly. I arn going to have huge, buge dif- ftculty passing a balanced budget. "We can talk about ftduciary duty until tbe cows corneborne but we bave a greater duty to serve tbe cbildren of Halton." Two areas where $1 rillion in savings were found were cornput- ers and retirernent gratuities. A proposed chop of $565,000 to tbe cornputer budget ix now just $65,000. A baif rillion dollars has been cbopped as weIl frorn the retire- rnent gratuities fond for 2002-03. A $6.2 rillion cost two years ago will be about $4.5 rillion for the current year but ix being estirnated at just $3 rillion for next year. The savings next year couldn't be estirnated or announced until those ernployees confirrned their intention to retire this year, wicb doesn't usually happen until June. The Canadian Champion, Tuesday June il, 2002 -3 ~ Ssalcash Plces .2L - 5 Speed - ABS - Passlock Thet Deterrent Cash Pcm c@ c. Or S 29 11,988 +taxes + reight & taxe s LEAS E 2.5% /I 48 months Trilt Wheels - CD with 6 Speakers CWih Puichm io c or $3 18 */o Cas PrchsoPue o *7taxes +$28eght taxe LEASE 2.4% 48 mnh 1Buick ueniury w 3.1 L - V6 - Dual Zone Air Conditionîng 15" Aloy Wbeels 6 Way Pwr. Seat - Split Foldîng Rear Seat - Keyleaa Entry Cash Puichaso Pdcs re7 ~ + ri t&tae LEASE +Jh xs . Leepynna1.4r/48 mnth 00Ks i (mdflo12 v8,D mdroquke 0 dom payment, OfIel payoteut, 0 .ewt depoei Ordy auhw n F e (96 0) gut8telim m & gis duSon dsvuy . oAC j 801I ____ C M MM SNT. E.M Ut1 CK MILTON .aa~z(MON.- xURS. **9()o Am gOttP' M - =i7ommi Mom MC»IL-Thum. 0:30 &M-7 Pm Friday 8-30 am-8 Pm saturdoyý8ý3d, am-$ Pm sonday 9-W P., LP-J