.

: mmunist Party’s sub-
aes the Ministerial Com-
ais jon on Education in Metro-
canes Toronto was the subject
ag n_ hour-long discussion be-
pF = Commissioners, and the
Sabah rs representatives — Nel-
a clarke and Norman Brudy.
q Many questions were asked
concerning the _party’s stand
‘that the provincial government
ae Id take over the full cost of
Ee cation: and the proposals in
fhe prief about the restructur-
4 of education in the metro-
a litan area — which were de-
ribed by one of the commis-
Soners as very interesting.
i At the conclusion of the hear-
ing the Chairman—Barry Lowes
hanked the party for “an inter-
esting presentation that in-
judes a number of ideas we
a e not heard before.’ Nelson
ciarke expressed his apprecia-
tion of the careful examination
ich the Commission was
Ping of the submissions be-
ing put before it.
The Commission was estab-
lished by the Ontario govern-
ent as an aftermath of the
oh fight that developed last
a between Queen’s Park

and the Toronto school boards .

ceilings on education
ae which have been im-
Be ed by the Tory government.
PeeThe submission of the Com-
munist Party made these points:

We wish at the outset of this

resentation to set forth the ob-
re tives which in our view must
1 serv by the “structure,
Be ration and financing” of the
school system in Metropolitan

nto.
ane educational system to
truly serve society must place
"as paramount the interests of
the children and young people
in our schools.

It is our opinion which we be-
lieve to be shared by a great
many others that a progressive
‘educational system must equip
a child as fully as possible to
meet the challenges of the many
and rapidly developing changes
in science and technology which
are a principal feature of our
age. This means to teach stu-
dents to think independently on
the basis of an examination of
objectively verifiable facts.

e While the quality of educa-
tion is not determined by money
alone, no one with any practical
sense at all can deny the deci-
sive importance of a fully ade-
quate financial under-pinning
for all sections of our educa-
tional system. It is this which
determines the adequacy of
teaching staff to meet the needs
of individual pupils, the quality
of school buildings, grounds and
equipment, the ability of the
schools to provide for the speci-
alized needs of particular groups
of students.

e We do not believe that the
kind of genuine equalization. of
educational opportunities that is
really needed can be achieved
within the borders of Metropoli-
tan Toronto and most certainly

~not in a situation where. two-

thirds of the costs of the school

system are still being carried by
taxation on real estate.
@ We shall advance proposals

in this brief to enhance local

autonomy -while ensuring the
financial under-pinning for our
‘schools without which local
autonomy is robbed of any real
_ meaning.

e@ The cost of education must

Need complete overhaul
to end education crisis

be taken off the local taxation
on real estate and assured by
the senior governments,

At the heart of the problem
stands the fact that residential
property in this province is still
carrying over $400,000,000 of
the cost for elementary and sec-
ondary education. This burden
on small homeowners, and on
tenants who are charged pro-
perty taxation through their
rents is entirely inequitable and
cannot be permitted to continue.

The large manufacturing and
mining corporations in this pro-
vince are quite aware that a
transfer of the costs of educa-
tion from local property on real
estate to senior governments
would open the way for a pro-
gressive system of taxation in

which they would have to begin °

to pay their proper share of the
costs of an educational system
which is, of course, essential to
them in the training of their
labor force. -

We consider it important that

the most intense pressure be

brought to bear on the provin-
cial government by trustees,
teachers, parents, students, the
labor and farm movements, and
community organizations of
ratepayers and tenants to se-
cure provincial assumption of
the full costs of education in
Ontario. If the hearings of this
Ministerial Commission  refoc-
usses public attention on this
issue it will already have begun
to justify its establishment.

e We should make clear here
that in the long term we advoc-
ate a much greater participation
by the federal government in
the financing of education. It is
ridiculous that that level of gov-
ernment which is in the best
position to effectively tax all the
wealth of the country should
today be contributing only 11
percent to all educational costs.
We recognize that a -greater
participation by the federal gov-
ernment in the financing of
education would quite properly
involve more transfer payments
to “have not” provinces for the
purpose of equalizing educa-
tional costs across the country.

We also recognize that Que-
bec as the homeland of the
French-Canadian nation will in-
sist on continuing to maintain
full control over its revenues
and expenditures for education.
There is no sound reason, Kow-
ever, why new arrangements
between the federal government
and the English-speaking pro-
vinces to provide for equaliza-
tion of educational opportun-
ities cannot be worked out be-
fore there is final resolution of
the bi-national question in
Canada.

e Justified concern for the
preservation of local autonomy
dictates that great care should
be exercised in the way in
which revenue coming from the
provincial government should
be transferred to the school
boards. We suggest the follow-
ing: ;

On the basis of representa-
tions from school boards and
teachers a figure should be
established for per Capita grants
per pupil which through careful-
ly worked out weighting should
guarantee every student in the
province an education equival-
ent to the highest standards of
teacher remuneration, _ pupil-
teacher ratio, plant and equip-
ment and services which have

so far been achieved in the pro-
vince.

1. Determining the amount of
such grants the consideration of
“economy” which enters into
the imposition of provincial
ceilings on educational spending
should now be firmly rejected.
Given the wealth of this pro-
vince, these ceilings are entirely
unnecessary. They result simply
from the deliberate choice made
by the present government of
Ontario to slash educational
standards rather than properly
tax its corporate friends.

These grants once determined
should be- established by a
‘statute of the Legislative As-
sembly. They should be com-
pletely without strings, and irre-
vocable. Aside from setting
forth in broad outline a curri-
culum for Ontario schools, the
provincial government should
exercise no other control over
the school system. The. present
situation in-which a wide vari-
ety of expenditures are policed
from Queen’s Park should be
abolished, ~

In order to provide for pro-
gress in the school system, a
process should be established
through with the amount of
grants should be reviewed an-
nually in full public consulta-
tion with trustees and teachers.
The objective must be to bring
about a situation in which the
school board levy for their educ-
ational requirements on corpor-
ate wealth instead of on real
property.

Finally, as an additional safe-
guard of local autonomy we
propose that each school board
be allocated by the province a
sum of money over and above
its statutory grant which it wilf
be able to use as required to pay
for specific local progress to
serve the needs of the particular
community. Such needs vary
widely as we have noted, and
cannot be the subject of deci-
sion making at a level so remote
as the provincial government.
We would think that to begin
with at least, a figure equal to
ten percent of the total grant

to a given board might be made

available for this purpose.

® Recognizing that it may
not be possible to implement
such sweeping new policies im-
mediately, we must strongly
urge that your commission call
on the provincial government to
act to extend to Metropolitan
Toronto the same degree of as-
sistance that is now available
to school boards across the pro-
vince as a whole. That is the
gcvernment of Ontario should at
once begin to cover 60% of the
costs of education within’ Metro-
politan Toronto.

e The body which governs
education in Metropolitan To-
.ronto should be capable of deal-
‘ing effectively and decisively
with the many problems involv-
ed in the organization of educa-
jtion in such a large diverse
community. Particularly should
it be able to speak with author-
ity to the provincial government
thus acting as a curb on bureau-
cratic and centralizing tenden-
cies of Queen’s Park. At the
same time, the government of
education ‘in Toronto must be
brought closer to the people,
made more quickly responsive

_ to their needs and aspirations.

e We would present the fol-
lowing broadly-sketched outline
of our suggestions for the re-
structuring of educational gov-

Inere was an old woman
Who lived in a shoe,
At eleven per cent
That's ali she could do... .

ernment in Metropolitan To-
ronto, in place of the existing
framework based on boards in
the City and five boroughs.

1. There should be a Metro-
politan Toronto School Board
Girectly elected from wards
throughout the Metropolitan
area established on the basis of
one ward electing one trustee
for every 20,000 people. In line
with our party’s general posi-
tion on electoral procedures we
would propose the use of the
single transferable preferational
ballot, and the establishment of
a method of recall.

This board would lay down

~ over-all policy. An executive

would be chosen on a basis sug-
gested below to carry out the
day-to-day administration.

2. The Metropolitan area
should be divided into a number
of educational districts which
would be approximately equal
in population, but which should
encompass .as far as_ possible
sections of the city having dis-
tinct social and/or ethnic char-
acteristics.

The trustees of the Metropoli-
tan Toronto Board of Education
representing wards within each
such district should form’ an
educational district council. The
educational district council
should concern itself with the
ways in which the schools in its

district can most effectively
serve the needs of the children
and adults in that particular
community.

It should naturally work
closely with community organ-
izations, home and school asso-
ciations, students councils, and
teachers’ federations.

To ensure the necessary flexi-
bility of resources, the educa-
tional district councils should
have the opportunity to admin-
ister a large proportion of the
special grants for specific local
purposes which we have includ-
ed in our propositions with res-
pect to financing. If those grants
amounted to ten percent of the
total allocation of funds for
education as we have suggested,
we should think the educational
district councils within Mero-
politan Toronto should receive
at least three-quarters of this
amount for their own district
administration.

3. Finally, on the understand-
ing that the Metropolitan To-
ronto School Board will deal
directly with the province for
its financial needs there will be
no need to retain the regional
offices which have stood as a
bureaucratic barrier between
Queen’s Park and the elected
boards ‘of trustees. These regi-
onal offices should be abolished
immediately.

Soviet Sportsmen last week
announced their refusal to play
Chile in the World Cup series
“in a stadium stained with the
blood of Chilean patriots.”

Defying FIFA threats to ex-

‘clude them from. the tourna-

ment, the Soviet soccer federa-
tion said in a statement issued
in Moscow that the Santiago
stadium, where the match was
to have been played, “has been
turned into a concentration
camp, an arena of torture and
execution for Chilean patriots.”

“Following the fascist coup
and the overthow of the legiti-
mate Popular Unity govern-
ment,” it said, “an atmosphere
of bloody terror and reprisals is
reigning in Chile.

“An unbridled, provocative
campaign is being carried out

‘Not in Chile’"—
Soviet footballers

against the Socialist countries
and all democratic forces, anti-
Soviet sentiments are being
whipped up and acts of violence
have. been permitted against
Soviet citizens in Chile.”

The Soviet football federation
charged FIFA with “supporting
Chilean reaction” by insisting
that the game must take place
as scheduled.

It had refused “to take into
account the _ bestial crimes
known to the whole world” and
had accepted the “assurances of
the self-styled defense minister
that there are no obstacles to
the match in Santiago.

Soviet soccer chiefs again
asked that the match be held

“on the territory of some third

country” and not in Santiago
and reaffirmed their readiness to
play the match.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1973—-PAGE 5