Where Is The Deserved Condemnation Of Fiberals

Are the unions and those voters who got conned into voting for "Change & No New Taxes" still trying to blame Mike Harris. And why is Howard Hampton expecting the Fiberals to keep their promise on this subject?

No promises to save small schools

Toronto Star

Plummeting enrolment in parts of Ontario means communities are going to have to get creative if they want to keep their local school open, Education Minister Kathleen Wynne told a meeting of trustees in Toronto yesterday.

The province, which just lifted its moratorium on school closings, won't promise to keep small schools open at all costs, Wynne told about 150 members of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees' Association.

"The solutions are going to be local," Wynne later said. "There are parts of this province where there are public libraries located in school buildings. We need to be looking at all of those solutions."

Trustees say it costs just as much to run, heat and staff a half-empty school as it does to run a full one. While boards do get some cash to offset dwindling enrolment, it's a struggle to keep smaller schools open since funding largely depends on the number of pupils.

Bernard Murray, president of the Catholic trustee association, said schools in northern communities and around Sarnia have been hit particularly hard as families move away after losing jobs in the lumber industry and oil refineries.

"That may be the only school in the area," Murray said. "There has to be a way of setting up funding that will allow those schools to operate."

NDP Leader Howard Hampton said small schools deserve special protection – something the Liberals promised to provide when they were elected.

Canadian Press