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Hamiltons' Insurance 5Oth Anniversary (education fundlng) Section 257.5: education taxes Section 261: amends sec- tion 118 of the Act wlth respect to the use of non-cer- tifled teachers Section 277.7: details the teachers collective bargaining during the transition to the new boards Section 277.14: also pro- tects provisions in seniority and other collective bargain- tmg rights Our goverrnent is moving toward a new fundlng formu- la and governance modelhe Nelda Dawson, Sue last week Thursday. present Sue Sawyer with a Sawyer, Marianne Wilson, Marianne Wilson and plaque thanking Hamiltons Barbara Sharman, and Barbara Sharmari, representa- Insurance for their support Eleanor Damant pose for a tives of Halifax Insurance and commitmnent since 1947. picture_ at the anniversary tea SAihta yi n g In Touch John O'Toole Durham East MPP Bill 160 Is at thec top of evelryone's agenda. As tnany debate, there are two sides to the issue. In my opinion, many of thc current media advertisements and personal attacks are dotag nothlng to solve thc problem. The fol- Iowng articles and editorials arc worth readlng: Rick James ta Uic October 29th edition of thc Canadian Statesman, Alex Shepherd, MP for Durhamin a is wcely article of October 29th, Roy Forrester ithei rono Weekly Times of October 29th, Uic editorlal In the Clarington This Weck of October 30th and Rk Dave's articles ta Uic Port Pcrry Weekcnd Star of October 24th. The general themes arc that our educa- hional system can improve. Clearly, Uic Ontario provin- cial govcrnment has Uic con- stitutional responsiblity for education flot flhc teachcr unions. In my vicw, every per- son ta Ontario bas Uic rlght to be heard. Your elected gov- crninent Is made up of teach- crs, and other professionals, as well as averagc citizens reflecting thc diverslty of this province. As govcrnnent, we must listen and respond to Uic wlshes and greater good for al 0ntarlo. 1 want, to thanik Dylan Gouldtag and Do ug Short, two students froni Port Penry Hlgh School, for organizlng a forum on Bill 160 last Tuesday October 28th. Scugog Reglonal councillor Marilyn Pearce dld an excel- lent job moderatlng the debate between Ms. Pat Jercmy, District 17 OSSTF president, and myself. The session was an opportunity for me to listen and respond to parents, students and teachers. I believe there Is 50 mucli misinformation out there that many people are thirstlng for more speclfic information. Let me respond by express- tag my views. First,_ I know and respect many teachers. I belleve that we have a sound educational system in Durhanm, given that Durhiam won the Bertelsmann award. Furthermore, Durham spends approximately $5600.00 per student, which is at or below the provincial average. Our curriculum in Ontario is oflen referred to as the crowded curriculum and bas in recenit times failed to focus on the basics of han- guagc and problem solving. Many teachers have told me that they have no problem with standardized testing, a more rigorous curriculum in the basics' as well as a clear- er report card. Individual teachers have not caused our system to become less accountable. Finally, I want to make it clear that I do not approve of teacher bashing. You do not build yourself up by tearing someone else down. In Ontario, we spend approximately $14 billion on education with some 2 mil- lion students. Clearly we spend enougli money at about $7,000.00 per student. We spend more than every province except Quebec. The facts -are that we do have a greater amount of prepara- tion time in our secondary schools than amy other province. We also have a shorter school year (number of teaching days) than most of Canada. What we meed are smaller class sizes and more attention paid to language, math and science. I recognize that ail leantag lias value. Sports and the arts also add value to our lives and our society., We must prepare our students for a higbly technical, com- petitive and global future. We can improve; we have good teachers and great young people.,All we need is the con- fidence and commitment to look to the future together. Bill 160 is almost incom- prehensible unless you also have a copy of the current Education Act. As in most legisîntion. there are pro- posed ainendments to other statutes and legal references, which are not a casual read. Let me assure you that mcm- bers ofthe legislature are walkcd through the proposcd sections of the legislation before It is debated. MPP's are also privileged to have brief- ing and access to Ministry staff to answcr questions. Most legislation is imple- mented through schedulcs and regulations referred to ta the Bill.' Some people complain that the tcrminology, "Subject to the approval of ,-the Lieutenant Governor, In Council, the minister may make regulations". 15 undemocratic. Let me assure you that ail legislation lias the exact sanie language and most legislation is defined through regulatioris. There are controversial sections in Bill 160. The 219 page document is half French (110 pages English) Section 7: deflnlng the school day and year Section 81: compliance re class size Section 234: regulations Durham Central Agricultural Society has storage space available for boats, trailers and motorhomes. Telephone: 983-9395 or 987-4487 Local,',, Councillor TWO Municipality 0f Clarington Authorized by the OFO for th~e Jim ScheII Carnpaign. RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE RATES. Owner Occupied 6 mo. 4.85% 1 year 5.05% 2 years 5.75% 3 years 6.00% 4 years 6.25% 5 years 6.25%, PAUL MULLER, Branch Manager 15 Charles St., Oshawa 728-4658 Office Hours: Monday to Wednesday 9:30 - 5:00 Thursday 9:30 - 7:00 - Friday 9:30 - 6:00 leUislatiofl is nee ded to allow the government to ensure class size is not allowed to increase and that our school day and year are broughi nto lime wlth other provinces. In the past ten years. student enrolinient has lncreased by 16%, inflation rose by 40%, yet your educational property tax lias tacreased by 120%. As 1 have said In every arti- cle, this dilenma wil not be settled by confrontation but by consultation. on