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Era A trustee speaks out on education William Bales received an acclamation to the East Gicillimbury seat on York County Board of Education he has held for the past two years He made the following speech on the state of education in York County to the Sept township nomination meeting Mr Bales was vicechairman of the York County board during its first crucial year j in provincial grants means that is being spent on by the county board on behalf of the people of East for which I am totally or partially responsible I say partially responsible because along with other trustees I am for roe total county budget Education minister William Davis in legislation establishing school divisions said the major goal of the reorganization is to create educational jurisdictions capable of extending equal educational opportunity to the boys and girls of Ontario The York County board is I working towards this goal We are committed to a completely integrated system from kindergarten to grade Examples of this are in Sloulfville Newmarket and Sutton where we have grade students in the secondary- schools and elementary and secondary teachers teaching in both panels Our major aim is quality and equality in education across the county We recognize that equalization will take several years and will result in the appearance of littte or no progress in certain areas while other areas catch up Early in we introduced kindergartens and oral in grade 7 and in those areas which did not previously have them A pilot class for children with learning disabilities has been started- This year we have also increased the number of special education classes Last September marked the opening of the Don Head special vocational school which drew students from all across the county This year the occupational students from this area will be provided for in expanded facilities at Huron Heights and Sutton Under bill we assumed for the educatable retarded We are operating three schools for the retarded in the county at Sutton Richmond Hill and Newmarket We have extended psycho logical services across the whole county SPECIAL EDUCATION The greatest progress so far has been made in the field of special education All these programs are coordinated under a superintendent of special education At the secondary level the most significant change in a decade has been the shift to individualized programs and the credit system for subject promotion All our schools have made large strides in this direction With one exception the secondary schools are now on a plan which will see them completely converted in the next two The board has the of the Thornlea Secondary School to rtadeata outside their school boundary This Is considered an experimental school one of the few schools of this type la the province It is an open concept unstructured secondary school similar to We have found by doing this that we have a group of students that are committed to this school They are here because they want to be They are above average achievers aid they the whole school This summer there has been a committee studying the possibly of establishing a socalled hard school This would be the opposite of It would be highly structured strict discipline strict mode of dress The students in this school would also be there by choice Mr Chapman Director of Education for York County received considerable publicity recently when he suggested that we should be thinking about opening all the secondary schools to any one in the county I am not sure a student should have to attend a specific school because they live in a certain area Especially if we are going to have schools of different flavors This is something we will be looking at in the future I have attempted to summarize what we are doing or trying to do academically I have barely touched on this subject but I would now like to bring you up to date on what is going on locally GOING ON LOCALLY The board has approved an addition at Mount Albert to consist of a library and three classrooms and a library at Maple Leaf We are waiting for departmental approval on these projects We are completing a large addition at Huron Heights Secondary School The contractor has run into problems on this project and consequently is behind the anticipated completion date I would like to take this opportunity to publicly commend the staff and the area superintend ants and especially the caretakers and county do listen and many of the decisions we make are based on their recommendations you care to call this being a Rubber Stamp then I would be the first to admit we are guilty NEED BUILDING MONEY We have asked the government for legislation to be able to impose what we call a Dwelling Unit Levy to pay for the capital cost of new schools created by new development We have been supported in this request almost per cent by the other boards in Ontario Our capital budget for approved by the Ontario municipal board is Our current five year forecast predicts an increased enrollment of pupils creating a need for to be spent on capital projects We have portables in use in the county this year which indicates the backlog we already have in providing school facilities This mounting debt will ultimately stop all development Without some ether source of capital funds we cannot build schools to serve ail the subdivisions that are being planned We think that it is unfair that present residents of the county be taxed to pay Tor schools to serve new developments These dwelling unit fees would be based on the type of dwelling its assessed value and projected number of pupils it would produce A typical example would be a single family home assessed at The dwelling unit levy would be In recent subdivision proposals brought to us for approval we have included in the recommendation that the approval be withheld until there is an agreement under which the developer would pay the dwelling unit fees established by the York County Board of Education As you all know the cost of education continues to Increase Our operating budget is up 14 per cent this year to a total of This is made up of a 5 per cent increase In enrollment mainly at the secondary level which of coarse Is more costly Five per cent can be attributed to inflation that is the Increased cost of goods and services particularly wages The remaining is the added programs and services that I mentioned earlier Without appearing to be making excuses it could be pointed out that per cent of our budget it made up of such things as salaries debt payment plant maintenance transportation etc over which we have little control With the less than per cent reinaining the trustees have given priority to items they feel will provide quality education and equality of educational opportunity LED TO SLAUGHTER While it Is not difficult to explain the increase hi our budget it Is very difficult to explain the increases many of you have experienced In your taxes In my opinion we here in York County are like a flock of sheep being led to the slaughter We are the First county to be reassessed at market value The government is constantly changing our equaliza tion factors and the proposed Toronto centred region plan contains a proposal for the realignment of the southern boundary As a result of reassessment there has been a large reduction in industrial and commercial assessment which the residential and farm property owners are being required to absorb Another factor contributing to an increase in the mill rate is the fact that costs are running ahead of new assessment In East Gwillimbury the figure this year was 332 per cent for elementary and 101 per cent at secondary level Our provincial grants are based on these equalization factors The average increase in grants last year in the province were Increased per cent In York County we received a I per cent increase in grants COST YORK 2 MILLION We are asking that some relief be given to our senior citizens Most of these people have raised and educated a family and are now living on a fixed income Many of these people are being taxed out of existence We are asking that the provincial government move to its stated position of paying per cent of the cost of education and give serious consideration to raising this figure to per cent within the next arbitration awards that were made amalgamation of the former boards Originally these monies were to be paid back this year Later in order to prevent large shifts in the levies either up or down as the case may be in one year legislation was passed specifying that these payments are to be spread over three years beginning in 1971 This credit is largely due to the fact of a change in the method of paying teachers Under the system the former East Gwillimbury township board was using they had paid more than of the salaries before January 1969 This credit also includes a surplus from the former district high school board We are working with the greatest natural resource this county possesses our young people We are attempting to provide them with all the opportunities we can I think we have to We are living in a technological era that has become very competitive In my opinion many companies and industries are demanding ridiculous qualifications for some very mediocre jobs All potential employers want to see that Piece of Paper We are living in an era where Drop Out has become a bad word Some of the most successful I know were drop outs Recent figures show that three out of 10 people in this county are in school which means that almost a third of our total population is school It makes one wonder if a country of little over 20000000 population can afford what we are spending on education On the other hand can afford not to staff for the job they did In the last weeks getting ready for the opening of school I never would have believed we could have opened after having seen it a week previous With the cooperation of the council A crossing guard has been placed at the school It is to be hoped this will alleviate a very dangerous situation caused by the loading and unloading of buses which cannot use flashers in a built up area Buses hare proven to be mm of the controversial Issues of all Some people we are not doing busing and others thksk that we are doing too much The board feels its policy bail Is reasonable We did a costing m reducing the for grade students from two miles 1ft miles administration This might be reason is that in our senior staff and area we nave a group of very capable people with a lot of experience In education Our director of education Mr Chapman is recognized aa one of the foremost in this province if not in this country end we to these people We do not always agree with Hum JwaWmaJsr Bern arc fully debated but I say and farm taxpayers close to this year which would have been available in grants and taxes from industry had no changes been made This of coarse has to he picked by local taxes We have just received the factors to be used for next years taxes They are up dramatically especially in the rural townships In East Gwillimbury the increase is 184 per cent If its any consolation the increase In is per cent North Gwillimbury per cent In the town of Newmarket there is a decrease of per cent I have not got the average for the county but undoubtedly our grants will be even less next year because of these increased factors The board has asked the local councils to make appeals where the increase is more than 5 per cent I understand our council is doing this We have prepared a brief very vigourously opposing the realignment of the southern boundary This brief points out mainly the many serious implications it would cause from the stand point of education in this county It also points out that we would lose a large part of what small amount of industrial assessment we already have The fact that our present ratio of assessment in York County is 82 per cent residential and farm and 18 per cent commercialindustrial points out one of the major problems we face In financing education and also the fact that we are a bedroom community with many of our people working Metro Toronto while living here Consequently their children are being educated here Any boundary change would further reduce this ratio EDUCATIONAL FINANCING We have also prepared a brief to be presented to the cabinet on the manner in which education Is financed Very briefly the main point contained in this brief ire these we are recommending that working farms be assessed on the basis of productivity This would at least relate it to the ability to pay instead of some inflated supposedly market value We think the farm community is being asked to pay for far more than their shire of the coat of education under our present system because of the simple fact that agriculture involves large areas of Farm land does not create a need for education VIC SAYS THE GLOVES ARE OFF 1971 SKIDOOS The Number Snowmobile From the Number Dealer WE STILL HAVE LOTS OF GENUINE CLOTHING AT REDUCED PRICES VIC STURDY LID Introducing Dodge THE CLASS OF A This year you cant afford not to be Dodge material BIG TORSION QUIET DODGE A lot more of everything for your money The 71 Big Dodge quietly says youve arrived Quid luxury in looks TorsionQuid Ride sumptuous tins cur is priced right down with others id the full sized to choose from starl ing at Special all the way up to the Monaco Brougham DODGE CHALLENGER COUPE Challenges them all so beautifully critics the spoil compact of the DODGE CORONET The just right size at the right price This is the Tourdoor Sedan with a plan For 71 mid size Dodge Coronet is all new t little richer touches tike on door lush colour kejed carpeting part of the phi DODGE DART SWINGER Canadas biggest compact valuer belter than ever for Take the Swinger twodoor Hardtop theres style youll have a hard time itching You cm choose and that all do their thing on regular gas Swim little DODGE DEMON SPORT COUPE Priced way down there The newest of the new cats and a ill addition to great Dodge DODGE CHARGER Now at a family mans price and all new for Familysized room in a sporty hardtop And gel this Charger priced right down wit DAVE WOOD CHRYSLER DODGE LIMITED Dovli Drive Dial