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PCs promise to fund faith-based schools |
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Written by Caitlin Badger, The Catholic Register
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Thursday, 14 June 2007 |
 John Tory, Leader of the Ontario PC Party
The initiative, outlined in the June 9 PC Party Plan, promises that public funding will come with “strict criteria and accountability requirements,” including the expectation that participating schools will “fully incorporate the complete requirements of Ontario’s common curriculum, just as in the Catholic system; participate in Ontario’s standardized testing program and agree to published results; and appropriately address teacher credentialing.”
Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association president Bernard Murray said that Catholic boards “continue to support in principle the rights of parents to choose religious education that reflects their values and beliefs,” referring to parents of all faiths. However, he also made clear that his priority remains the protection of Catholic education as it exists today, saying Catholic schools will not accept any proposals that will compromise the system’s constitutionally protected rights.
When asked if the Catholic boards would welcome an affiliation with other faith-based schools if the PC plan falls into place, Murray said it is too early to comment. Without further details on Tory’s plan for implementing the initiative, Murray said he can not speculate as to what the Catholic schools will do in the event that other faith-based schools become publicly funded.
Education Minister Kathleen Wynne said her Liberal government is not in support of the proposal. She said the government has worked hard to repair the existing publicly funded system from the damage caused by previous governments, and she called Tory’s proposal for public funding of faith-based schools “a distraction” from the task of repairing the damage done by his predecessors.
“We will be funding the system that we inherited. It’s on a good track now,” said Wynne.
The Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops has stated on numerous occasions in the past that it supports extending funding to all faith-based schools.
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Caitlin Badger, The Catholic Register |
| About the author: |
| Caitlin Badger is an intern reporter for the Catholic Register. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Jerome's University at the University of Waterloo , where she studied English Rhetoric and Professional Writing.
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