| Written by Michael Swan, The Catholic Register,
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 TORONTO - Ontario’s Liberal government bought itself a little peace and quiet from education unions and school boards with a $309-million cash infusion into the province’s schools over the next two years.
Going into an Oct. 10 election in which education promises to be an issue, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced $182 million extra for the 2007-2008 school year, and $127 million in the 2008-2009 year. He also promised a review of the contentious education funding formula to be completed in 2010.
Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association president Elaine MacNeil said the extra cash would “support ongoing stability and peace in the publicly funded school system.”
“It’s good news. You have to accept that and acknowledge that,” said Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association president Bernard Murray.
Murray told The Catholic Register he thought the slight increase in funding would be enough to head off deficits in the increasing number of boards with trouble balancing their books.
“It certainly is going to relieve some of the pressure on boards when balancing their budgets,” Murray said. “There are probably going to be exceptions.”
The $182 million increase in funding for 2007-2008 represents just one per cent of the $18.2 billion school boards spend annually. Education Minister Kathleen Wynne told the Toronto Star it would be enough that “most of the boards in the province will not be dealing with deficits.”
For the Catholic boards in the Greater Toronto Area, the Aug. 14 funding announcement should translate into $7.2 million for the Toronto Catholic District School Board, $7 million for Dufferin-Peel, $4.5 million in York, $2.3 million for Halton and $2.1 million in Durham.
With the March provincial budget, the government had already committed itself to a $781-million increase in education funding.
Murray welcomed the funding formula review, which was recommended in the Rozanski Report of 2002, but stressed that the amount of money in the formula, rather than the formula itself, is the real problem.
“The principle is great, that they have said they’re going to sit down and look at it. All the partners will be able to take part in that,” Murray said. “I don’t think we need a different funding formula.”
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Michael Swan, The Catholic Register |
| About the author: |
| Michael Swan is Associate Editor of The Catholic Register. He is an award-winning writer and photographer and holds a Master of Arts degree from New York University.
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