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6- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday May 24, 2006 OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: IAN OLIVER Publisher NEIL OLIVER Associate Publisher JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor KELLY MONTAGUE Advertising Director DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Manager TERI CASAS Business Manager MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA CALHOUN Circ. Manager Metroland Printing, Publishing & Distributing Ltd., includes: Ajax/Pickering News Advertiser, Alliston Herald/Courier, Arthur Enterprise News, Barrie Advance, Brampton Guardian, Burlington Post, Burlington Shopping News, Caledon Enterprise, City Parent, Collingwood/Wasaga Connection, East York Mirror, Erin Advocate/Country Routes, Etobicoke Guardian, Flamborough Review, Georgetown Independent/Acton Free Press, Harriston Review, Huronia Business Times, Lindsay This Week, Markham Economist & Sun, Midland/Penetanguishine Mirror, Milton Canadian Champion, Milton Shopping News, Mississauga Business Times, Mississauga News, Napanee Guide, Newmarket/Aurora Era-Banner, Northumberland News, North York Mirror, Oakville Beaver, Oakville Shopping News, Oldtimers Hockey News, Orillia Today, Oshawa/Whitby/Clarington Port Perry This Week, Owen Sound Tribune, Palmerston Observer, Peterborough This Week, Picton County Guide, Richmond Hill/Thornhill/Vaughan Liberal, Scarborough Mirror, Stouffville/Uxbridge Tribune, Forever Young, City of York Guardian Action needed If the Ministry of Education isn't prepared to put its school-funding policy where its mouth has been in recent years, it should at least have the decency to admit it is failing public education in Halton. Since being elected in the fall of 2003, Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government has said all the right things regarding newschool funding in Ontario, but has offered little to back up those words. It has been almost 30 months since the newly-elected Liberals placed a moratorium on school closures. At the time, the announcement came as enormous relief to older neighbourhoods where established schools with declining enrolment were being targeted for closure. While the policy of the previous Tory government -- where school closures had to occur in order to trigger enough pupil spaces to justify new school grants -- might have made sense on some bureaucratic ledger, it pitted established neighbourhoods against new ones as parents fought tooth and nail to keep their schools. Putting its faith in the McGuinty government, the Halton District School Board remained cautiously optimistic an improved school-funding policy would be forthcoming. Last week that good faith ran out. "It is an untenable situation," public school trustees were told last week by Steven Parfeniuk, superintendent of business for the board. The senior administrator said between 1999 and 2006 more than 8,000 pupil spaces were created in Halton through the construction of 13 new schools. However, since the board hasn't closed any schools recently, it faces a $2.6-million shortfall between the cost of the new schools and the grants it received to build them. Parfeniuk fears the debt could jeopardize future schools for high-growth neighbourhoods in Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills -- including six new elementary schools in five years. While the Tories' school-funding formula resulted in the ugliness of school boards having to rip the heart out of neighbourhoods by closing their schools, the Liberal system seems to put new neighbourhoods at risk of being without a school. If this is the best the Liberals can offer, the Halton District School Board's ability to keep pace with the region's growth is in serious jeopardy. The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Columnist should not disregard talents of athletes and actors First of all, I would like to state that I am happy to see that the youth, like me, are given a voice within The Oakville Beaver and I take great pleasure in reading Ainsley MacIntyre's columns; she is quite the writer. Nevertheless, I do take issue to a claim within her most recent article: Hard to be humble (Oakville Beaver, May 20). MacIntyre began her article speaking of her own ideals and all was right as rain until she claimed that athletes as well actors are paid millions "simply because they demonstrate skill areas which are not especially beneficial to civilization." Now, this is blatantly nonsensical and I intend on telling her why. First of all, many people have skills that are virtually useless to the maintenance of society and yet we pay them little, if nothing -- take jugglers, clowns or even columnists, perhaps? Okay, that was a little under the belt, but my point stands: having skills that are not "especially beneficial to civilization" does not warrant a salary of millions, per se. And thus, perhaps athletes and actors present society with a little more than what MacIntrye is willing to grant them? For instance, could it not be true that millionaire athletes are the elitists of their sport, who dedicated their lives to athletic prestige, potential role models for children and the entertainment figures for the masses? Does anyone deny that role models for children and the need for entertainment within the rat race of our lives are crucial to the functions of society? Likewise, does anyone dare to deny the value of a great actor, who has the ability to make you cry both in sadness and laughter, tremble in fear during a horror flick or at the tip of your seat during a thriller? Or maybe even seize your lover's hand during a romance? It would seem to me that MacIntrye takes entertainment for granted and I challenge her to imagine her world without it -- ~how monotonous would that be? It is not my place to argue whether or not athletes and actors alike deserve millions, but I will promulgate one truism: athletes and actors do possess skills that are especially beneficial to society -- no matter what MacIntrye says. But, what do I know? In fact, it's a wonder that I can type. After all, I'm just an athlete with no skills that especially benefit civilization. How depressing. M. JORDAN The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate.The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Pud BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com