I took a bit of a beating from the moonbats on my view of forced pencil sharing in public schools, but thanks to Sara from Choice For Childcare, the story about the lawsuit in BC forcing schools to pay for all items related to the curriculum and graduation of students has been resurrected in the Toronto Star today.
The ruling is a welcome one. And while applicable only in B.C., it should serve as a strong reminder to schools, boards and education ministry officials in Ontario that fees have no place in public education.
Officially, Ontario schools cannot charge fees for anything, including basic supplies, that is required for courses under the provincial curriculum.
But after years of budget cuts, many schools appear to be quietly and unofficially skirting the rules. A 2005 study by People for Education, a parent advocacy group, suggested nearly 75 per cent of Ontario’s high schools levied lab and material fees. According to the group, those charges ranged from $5 to $100 and included science supplies, musical instruments, woodworking materials, photocopying and workbooks.
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To rectify the situation, Queen’s Park should remind school administrators that fees are not allowed for basic courses or class materials. At the same time, it should ban the practice of levying student activity fees and give schools the funds they need to offer full programs for all without cost.
Wow!! It looks to me like schools in Ontario should provide that box of pencils, not to mention art supplies, that compass for math, and even musical instruments. Considering we rent T-bone’s trombone annually, I am starting to wonder just how much money we are paying directly for our children’s education for items that the school should be providing.
I wonder if Afghani children pay for their pencils?
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Greetings,
Of course, what you never hear about is that when schools are forced into this situation, they simply cut program content.
The school trustee/socialist dupe that caused all of this proudly crows about the graduation rate in Victoria, where this political mischief went on, being around the provincial average.
But, you get what some call ‘target schools’. No music program here? The school across town has one.
At the end of the day, taxpayer’s ability to pay is NOT endless, and so in this(Victoria’s) situation, programs are not evenly available across the board.
If you want music, it’s at school “a”. If you want comprehensive athletics, it’s at school “b”. And cetainly, where activity fees are replaced from the regular operating budget, textbooks, as they age, get more dog-eared, and written in as they are shared by successive classes of students.
One local school district, albeit in the wealthy municipality of West Vancouver, uses this ‘target school’ concept quite successfully. They make it very easy for children to migrate around the district to enjoy the programs they choose. Still though, not all schools offer all programs.
Oh, if only solutions were as easy as identifying the problems!
Cheers!
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As a side note the feds today announced that supporter’s of the CWB (Canadian Wheat Bolshevicks) will from now on have to buy their own pencils, advertising and propaganda material.
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guess who stole the pencils and even little t-bone’s tuba? dirty mike harris, that’s who. filthy consersatives.
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Actually, considering Paul Martin cut transfer payments to the provinces leaving them with a massive debt, you can blame the federal Librals.
Nice try.
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If the feds love third world immigration so much when are they gonna pay for; ESL classes, psychiatrists, school nurses, behavioural experts and other assorted pros to try in a vain attempt to make these people Kanadian??
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It was oh so easy to blame Harris…then go on spending sprees for more admin and admin buildings….pencils or tubas for the kids?…no way!
filthy boards!!
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I had a feeling it was wrong to NOT provide the necessary materials in a public, universal educational system. Guess I was right.
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Remember the good old days? You know when education was right not a privlege?