......is why the unions weren't holding massive marches and protests during McGinty's tenure like they did while Harris was trying to get us off the prepice of bankruptcy. Could it be because wage demands for teachers were met with little difficulty?
'Education premier' lays off support staff |
What on earth is the Liberal brain trust thinking?
With a scant two months to go before the election writ is dropped, more than 60% of the province's school boards are laying off staff. So far, without all boards reporting, 575 support staff will be receiving pink slips.
This figure does not include the 500 staff at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) threatened with layoff or the 125 layoffs at Upper Canada District School Board. Educational assistants are bearing the brunt of the cuts even though they provide direct assistance to the province's most needy school children -- those with learning, physical and mental disabilities.
Nearly half of the province's school boards plan to make cuts to special education, according to Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) research analyst Paul O'Donnell. A smaller number are cutting adult education, literacy and early reading programs.
Last year, school boards had a shortfall of more than $300 million. That resulted in the elimination of 500 support staff jobs. The cuts would have been deeper had some boards not raided and depleted their reserve funds. This year the shortfall is closer to $200 million with one-third of boards saying they had to dip into or exhaust their reserve funds.
It is difficult to understand how a political leader who has fashioned himself as the "education premier" could have screwed up so badly this close to an election. Mind you, the Liberals have used every trick and sleight of hand in the book to try to dampen the political fallout of the devastating cuts.
2 comments:
Interesting.
Does this explain why the Upper Canada District School Board is willing to let students from a private school (which recently indicated it would not open in September) choose what school their kids get to go to? That is, are they just after the extra cash??
Apparently the head of the UCDSB indicated that these parents may pick the school of their choice (and go cross border) without requiring releases from the school they are slated for. In addition, most believe this is a guarantee and the board will not change their minds.
So let's see, these parents that many have never had their kids in public education, get to pick what they consider "the best school" and others that want to send their kids there to bad...
And to top it off, it is one of the only elementary schools (Toniata) in the St. Lawrence area that is already at full capacity. That is correct the boards own documents illustrate that this school is full while others run at a fraction of their capacity. This makes sense....
This could be best answered by the premier's or Ryan's office. I was just trying to point out the hypocricy.
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