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stux f r s mml tt r the tribune thursday december 4 1997 p 5 bill gives education power to government of any stripe letters dear editor i would like to address a number of comments made in tracy kibbles diatribe are we really that afraid of teachers first she remarks that teachers should be ashamed for writing biased letters well unless every writer is willing to state their sociocultural upbring ing political and religious beliefs sexual preferences and personal perspectives on any number of issues ones biases will never be clear second as for teachers comments being simply union propaganda i find it very unlikely that teachers whose very profession involves the teaching of thinking and learning skills the discussion and question ing of ideas and issues and whose educational backgrounds are signif icant would simply repeat union- thinking verbatim and without criti cal thought third the comments that during the past 10 years education spending has increased nearly 85 per cent while school taxes rose a revolting 120 per cent fall into ms kibbles own condemnation of bias and the spouting of propaganda only this time its the governments propagan da information available from the ontario public school boards association debunks this govern ment misinformation the government purposefully uses the 1985 and 1995 comparison of data because it reflects the greatest change in funding the 1985 data is the year prior to the funding of high school in the separate system while 1995 was the last year fullfunding was available to junior kindergarten and adult edu cation in addition the government has decreased its transfer payments over this period increased the province- wide education mill rate which it sets and mandated programs with out providing funding hence local education taxes have had to increase the province has been downloading costs onto the local boards in closing i would suggest that anyone who favours improving edu cation should take a critical look at this bill it has nothing to do with improv ing classroom education and more to do with providing the government with the power to do whatever it wants with the system lawyer peter j lewarne matrimonial personal injury commercial litigation small business law bankruptcy real estate wills oyer 20 years experience low rates quality service 4701 highway no 7 at kennedy rd unionville ontario l3r1m7 tel 4774381 fax 4777601 24 hour availability and even if you do support the conservative agenda with regard to education decrease of funding and dismissal of at least 7500 teachers will you support the next government perhaps liberal or ndp or a new reform party who will have all of this power bestowed by this bill steve bull stoufivhle ils hi jg ssjigps s -v- iclkc me m mbbi i lllllllllf wmsmm wmsm m m mmmmmmsmm hiiiiii hb ps sfc j 1 our entire collection of incredible christmas decorations many exclusive to eatons all ornaments lights trees stockings christmas wrap boxed cards and more i in our christmas shop j l1 need extra time to shop our toronto eaton centre store is open monday to friday 930 am to 930 pm- suburban stores monday to friday 1000 am to 1000 pm all offers available until december 7 1997 selection varies by store savings off regular ticketed prices irw ip t iiiiiiiyiiiiiiiiiiii i your h