Bullets

• REALITY CHECK:  The Minister of Education does not have the power to direct a school board to review, rethink, reconsider or repeal a decision.       http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90e02_e.htm

• TAXPAYER FUNDED SCHOOL BOARDS IN ONTARIO: 

English Public                    English Catholic Public                    English Protestant Separate Public

French Public                    French Catholic Public

• NO PUBLIC FUNDS FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOLS: in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,  Prince Edward island, Newfoundland or Labrador.

• The Ministry has already begun to standardize policies …

EQAO            Anti Bullying                    Report Cards                  Healthy Menus      Student School Supplies                 All-Day Kindergarten

• WE NEED ONE VOICE ON …

School Closing Criteria                      Appealing School Board Decisions                    Cell Phone Use On School Property                               Religion vs Constitution Rights In Publicly Funded Schools

• DECLINING ENROLLMENT    is not the same as  DECLINING POPULATION

In the 2011 Spring budget, the forecast is for population increase.  

Enrollment decline MAY be due to the perceptions of parents and students that another school board or school has better facilities, better instructors, different discipline ideas etc.  It doesn’t mean there are fewer students.  Compare the governments population information to what your school board is saying.  Eliminating board rivalries could solve this problem!

• The Problem is Not Rural School Funding Formula: its the ease with which school boards get money from the ministry for transportation.  A review of the rural funding formula with bussing costs coming out of school board budgets and special education costs from the province would probably make a big difference and save rural schools.

• Do you know a school that seems to have been allowed to decline to the point of being Prohibitive To Repair?    Has the school been closed?    Are the students being bused long distances to a newly constructed school?

• Tax Dollars Build Schools:   $5.2 Million tax dollars were given by the ministry to one school board to purchase a surplus school from another board.  Plans are to spend more taxpayer money this way. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/ontario-picks-up-tab-for-new-french-school-in-etobicoke/article2142731/ 

• Municipalities are required to develop ‘complete communities’.  School boards can close a school putting an end to the municipality’s work knowing there’s nothing the municipality can do about it.