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Star EDITORIAL Sep 28, 2007 04:30 AM Which political party has the best plan to ensure our publicly funded schools can offer quality education to all children in Ontario? That's a key question confronting voters as they decide whether to support the Liberals, Progressive Conservatives or New Democratic Party in the Oct. 10 provincial election. Each party has vowed to bolster public education, but their platforms differ in striking ways. Since taking power in 2003, the Liberals under leader Dalton McGuinty have reversed the course of public education after the chaos and unrest in the late 1990s under former premier Mike Harris. But while the Liberals pumped an extra $3.7 billion into the sector, reduced primary class sizes and helped restore peace between school boards and unions, many schools have been left struggling to pay their bills, keep their libraries open and repair their buildings. Unfortunately, Conservative Leader John Tory's controversial proposal to extend public funding to non-Catholic religious schools has distracted voters' attention from the critical issue of how to strengthen public schools, where the vast majority of students study. However, there are notable differences in the commitments the three major parties are making to bolster public schools, starting with the amount of money they are ready to spend. Not surprisingly, NDP Leader Howard Hampton, who has little hope of winning and thus won't have to follow through on his platform, promises the biggest increase in spending. Over the next four years, he would boost education spending by a total of $2.7 billion, compared to $2.4 billion for the Liberals and only $1.7 billion for the Tories. The crucial point is that the Conservatives have promised to set aside 25 per cent of their proposed increased spending on education to extend funding to faith-based schools. That means the Tories would spend just over $1.2 billion extra on existing publicly funded schools. With that amount of money, plus the impact of inflation on education budgets, it is hard to believe Tory could keep his promise to fix and improve the inadequate education funding formula, which does not even reflect the real costs of heating schools and keeping the lights on; fix substandard schools; open up more schools to the community; help children with special needs; invest in early childhood education and ensure children who need training in English as a second language get the help they require. While inflation would, of course, also eat into the proposed education budgets of the Liberals and the NDP, both parties would still be left spending roughly twice as much additional money as the Conservatives on existing publicly funded schools. That in itself makes their platforms more credible. All parties propose to strengthen the controversial formula under which schools are funded. The Liberals say they would not review it until 2010, while the Tories and NDP have pledged annual reviews. In addition, the Liberals and NDP have promised to invest more in children with special needs and those who need help with English as a second language. As well, both parties promise to extend junior and senior kindergarten from half a day to a full day. While the Liberals and NDP seem to be in agreement on most of the big issues in education, there are major differences in their specific approaches to improving schools. For example, the Liberals would create new schools within every board that would specialize in such areas as the trades, math, sciences, the arts and athletics. And they would invest in individualized learning in certain areas, in smaller classes in Grades 4 to 8 and in supports for struggling students in Grades 7 and 8. And the New Democrats would give school boards more money to meet local priorities and put considerably more money into services for children with autism, while the Liberals would put more emphasis on individual students. Both sets of policies have their merits, and the Liberals and NDP have backed them up with credible funding commitments. That ability to offer reasonable education promises, supported by solid numbers, is what sets the Liberals and New Democrats apart from the Conservatives on their school platforms. And it's why the Tories fare the worst when it comes to the critical question of which party offers the best plan to ensure quality education in Ontario's publicly funded schools over the next four years.
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