The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Page &, Terrace Bay-Schreiber News, Wednesday, April 16, 1986 7 A number of Lake Superior Board of Education trustees had an opportunity to speak directly to Sean Conway, the Minister of Education, at left, during Con- way's recent visit to Marathon. Trustees Gerry Armour ae: Perth DRYCLEANING SERVICES PHOTO PRINTS -- TERRACE BAY TRAVEL REST -- SCHREIBER Early Spring Sales April 7 to April 19 Pants, Slacks, Sweaters, Skirts - $2.99 Heavy Winter Coats & Parkas - $7.99 Blankets - $4.50 PHOTO PRINTS - Simcoe Plaza, Terrace Bay TRAVEL REST - Highway 17, Schreiber and Joan Nugent made a number of comments to the Minister after the Board made its presentation to hom. (Photograph by Mary Clara Papineau). Pitch-in May 5 - 11 choose from over 80 dresses all styles, all sizes DRESS EXTRAVAGANZA One Week Only April 14-19 Shop early for best selection Spadoni's DEPARTMENT STORE Schreiber, 824-2549 by Mary Clara Papineau On February 27, The Honourable Sean Conway, Minister of Education, visited Marathon. There he and Roy Houghton, Regional Director of Education, were met by Pat Richardson, Chairperson for the Lake Superior Board of Education. She conducted them on a tour of the town, stopp- ing to visit Marathon Public School and also stopped to see the site of the future high school. I was very excited at the chance to meet and hear the Minister of Education. Having been on the LSBE for only a few months, I thought it was a great opportunity. Sean Conway met with us and since his time was limited, the Board's con- cerns were presented in writing. Following are parts of our presentation and although the language is fairly technicial, the issues are very complicated. 2h oe ie 2k 2h 2 ae fe ke ke 2 2 ae ee ie 2 28 a a Presentation: Educational Finance: All of our concerns have their genesis in the area of educational finance. We are aware that the McDonald Commission Report will be released shortly; however, we would still like to capsulize for you today the issues that adversely affect us. Residential Taxation: We would like to point out that the current manner of determing educational tax dollars creates distor- tions and _ inequities, especially for homeowners. In a jurisdic- tion such as ours, with a railroad community, two mill towns and a mining community, the problem is compounded. Homeowners in Manitouwadge currently pay three times the educa- tional taxes as do homeowners in Schreiber. We have suggested that this problem could be resolved by unhinging residential assessment from industrial assessment and using pure residential assessment for determining residential tax- ation and trustee representation. The concept that "a $60,000 house is a $60,000 house," regardless of the community, seems to be a fair resolve to this com- plicated problem. Trustee Representation: The current legislation pegs trustee representation to equalized residential assessment. Again the above distortions in deter- ming equalized residential assessment causes ine- quities in trustee represen- tation and is continuing source of concern. Representation does not reflect the actual local educational assessment, residential and/or industrial. Grants: Although the Allan Report resulted in new money being allocated to small secondary schools, the adjustment upward in the weighting factor does not reflect the real costs of staffing and operating four small high schools. This is evidenced in current ex- penditures over the ceiling (approximately $1,000 per pupil in spite of a weighting factor of approximately 40 per cent. Salaries alone pierce the recognized or- dinary expenditure ceiling by about seven per cent. All other costs for operating are raised 100 per cent locally. Capital Expenditure: For the past five years the Board has identified a number of major capital projects requiring Ministry support. In 1984, $6000,000 was approved to replace one wing of Manitouwadge Public School and 1986 $6 million has been approved for replacing Marathon High School. For those ap- provals we are grateful. oard of Education makes presentation to Minister Bev, We do, however, still need funds for major renovations, especially in Terrace Bay, where the 1953 portion of the high school needs upgrading, and the public school needs an addition. Schools in these com- munities were initially con- structed by the companies and were built in sections to reflect growth. They are basically wood structures with obsolete mechanical and electrical systems and inadequate insulation. Roofs and windows need replacing. Bill 30: Mr. 'Minister, the trustees of the Lake Superior Board of Educa- tion would like to express their concern to you regar- ding Bill 30 and the poten- tial fragmentation of already questionably viable high schools. This Board has struggl- ed long and hard with great difficulty to make small high schools work. Pro- gram offerings are limited and costs are extensive. Pupil teacher ratios in the Lake Superior Board of Education are among the lowest in the province, while costs are among the highest. However, to cut a teacher is to cut program offerings for students. In a presentation to the Standing Committee on - Social Development the board suggested that high schools of 400 to 500 should not be fragmented. We would urge you in your © deliberations over the definition of viability to give serious consideration to that request. If new and additional money can be found for education, then let it benefit all students in small high schools. Lake Superior Board of Education YOU'VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES -- Sports and Fitness Ontario FKNAR Phone Dave or Curtis AVE ESROSIERS & SON LTD. locally owned and operated offering the following services: Ready mixed concrete: certified plant quality concrete any specification Gravel pit operation: 1/2" & 3/4" crushed rock granular "A" & B" screened sand, masonry sand Heavy equipment: backhoe, loaders, bulldozer, grader tandem dump trucks and tractor trailer dump units, boom truck Call us for the best rates and the best service We maintain over ten years of solid, reputable service to the north shore communities and we are committed to future developments.