School board trustees, some of whom don’t believe in respecting the law of the land, make lousy role models for school children.
With the trustees of both the Ottawa-Carlton and Toronto boards now operating outside the law with deficit budgets, it was recently revealed that Hamilton had an illegal $16-million deficit budget passed by trustees in June.
School board staff in the steel city say they had no intentions of abiding by the deficit budget.
Commonsense Jane Allison, the board’s public relations officer, says staff are only required by law to follow "lawful and reasonable" direction from trustees.
"Because this was an illegal budget, it doesn’t exist" in the eyes of the staff, she said,
According to the Hamilton public board’s chair, trustees only passed the illegal budget to get Education Minister Elizabeth Witmer’s attention.
So in the case of Hamilton, there’s a touch of irony that their staff are standing against trustees. Perhaps that’s the only way staff can get the attention of their crusading politicians.
Meanwhile Ernie Eves, Auditor Al Rosen Company can expect a very difficult time bringing the Toronto District Board into line. While Ottawa-Carlton and Hamilton board politicians are `trustees’, in Toronto the same politicians lay claim to being `activists’.
And those activists, who do precious little to deliver education to our youngsters, are on a roll.
The 11 activists holding out against Rosen with a deficit budget of $90-million are known simply as "the caucus." Like the New Democratic Party (NDP) caucus that caused such turmoil for the board in the 80s, the 11 hold half of the board’s 22 seats. Unfortunately for the future of public education in the City of Toronto, they therefore exert ultimate control over each and every vote, because motions fail on a tie.
Any parent who wants to see power craze in action should drop into any regular school board meeting when Al Rosen isn’t around.
Masters of the filibuster and much more interested in politics than they are in education, these activists can wear anybody down.
When the money originates from the public purse, a $90-million deficit budget is nothing to take lightly.
Ernie Eves should find the courage to carry through with his threats of government takeover.
Let the province balance the budgets of the rogue boards.
But in the best interest of the local taxpayer, Toronto School Board administration should be turned over to the well-paid councillors at Toronto City Hall.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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