Whitby's... Board budget jumps 9.8% By JAN DODGE Free Press Staff The average Whitby public school supporter can expect to pay $52 more in school taxes for 1986. He can. take heart, however, from the fact that the - average Pickering taxpayer will have an increase of $62 over last year. Whitby public school taxes will increase 8.5 percent over last year - the lowest increase of al municipalities ser- ved by the Durham Board of Education. Pickering will pay a high 10.2 percent more, and the average in-. crease will be 9.8 per- cent. vol. The reason behind this is somewhat ob- scure but Ray Clark, manager of business and financial services, says the equalization factor is responsible. Separate calculations are made for each municipality using the 1979 equalization factor and the current factor. Whichever comes in lower, is used. This year Whitby is using the current factor for both elementary and secon- dary panels, whereas last year the 1979 factor was used for one panel. Whitby taxpayers who find that hard to under- stand can rest assured they will pay less than their neighbours. 16, No. 15 The total budgeted expenditure for 1986 is $183.6 million: $105.1 million for elementary schools, and $78.5 million for secondary schools. This means the cost for educating an elementary student in Durham in 1986 will be $3,234; for a high school student, $4,405. The main factors in- creasing the budget by 10.35 percent over last year are increases in wages, . benefits and staffing. With an expec- ted growth in staff of 125, the total number of employees will exceed 4,200. Some items cut from the original proposed budget were the marketing plan and a number of new staff positions. However, in the area of special education, 32 staff will be added to complete the requirements for the Special Education Plan. Extra money is also budgeted for an expan- sion of core French and grade 8, - and for reducing class sizes in grades 2 to 6. This reduction will account for an increase of 28 teachers. School block budgets (that portion of the budget over which the principal of each school presides) have been in- creased by 6 percent as have expenditures for Wednesday, April 16, 1986, instructional supplies. In addition to the above the board budgeted $590,000 for textbooks and resour- ces, $74,450 for French immersion resources, $266,750 for computer program, $90,000 for in- strumental music for grades 7 and 8, and $46,654 for Durham writing folders. Provision was also made for grade 5 math kits, guidance tests, class excursions and audio/visual equip- ment. French immersion will be offered this Sep- tember for the first time in grade 9 at Pickering High School and R S. SEEPG.20 32 Pages At a press conlerence Monday morning, Durham Board of Education chairman Ruth Lafarga announ- ced that the province has approved funding for the construction of a new elementary school in Pringle Creek. Mrs. Lafarga said she hoped the new school would be ready for oc- cupancy by September of 1987 and that the project would probably be tendered out this fall. Commenting that Durham is the fourth fastest growing region in the province, the chairman said a special effort was made this year to. impress upon the Ministry of Education the board's critical student accom- modation shortage. "We're very pleased that there has been some recognition of our accommdation crisis," said Mrs. Lafarga. In the past, she said the province has only ap- proved one new school for the region in any one year. This year the ministry has approved two schools in Durham, the second one in Port Perry where the region's most critical shortage of classrooms exists. However, Mrs. Lafarga added that the board will not "relax" its efforts to press the province for increased capital funding in the future. With the fifty new portables slated to be errected this year, she said the two new schools will just allow the board to "hold our own". • Durham presently has the highest percentage of students in portables of any board in the province. Last year the board experienced an increase in elementary enrolement of 716 students and this year that increase is expec- ted to jump to more than 1,000. Board director Bruce Mather said 'he hoped that the province was establishing a new trend that would be continued in the future. "We have a very serious crowding problem and I hope the two new schools are the start of a pattern of two or three new schools a year because we need two or three new schools a year," said Mr. Mather. The director also noted that because the board had already made some provision for the new schools in this year's budget, construc- tion would be able to proceed sooner than it would had the board waited for provincial approval. The t9tal cost of the two new schools is ex- pected to be $5.1million, 60 percent of which will be funded by the provin- ce. The Whitby school, to be called Paramount, will cost approximately $3.1 million. It will con- tain 10 classrooms, one kindergarten and one room each for special education, instrumental music, science, art, academic resource, SEE PG. 20 Out-of-town bingos stay Adrian Dresar, grade three and Jeff MeIntyre, grade five, were the co-designers of this attractive, button which promotes Palmerston Avenue Public School. The buttons will be available at the school when Palmerston and other schools throughout Durham Region celebrate Education Week begin- ning Monday, April 28. Among the special programs which are scheduled at the school during the week will be the Petro Canada Road Safety Show with Elmer, an open house from 7 till 8:30 p.m. May 1 at which parents view the science fair display and a program of square dancing and choral speaking the followirig afternoon at Fair- view Lodge. If you'd like to see what's going on in Durham during Education Week, check your local school for a calendar of events. Free Press Staff Photo Town council has upheld an operations committee decision, that any charitable organization which does not comply with provin- cial regulations gover- ning bingo receipts will not qualify for a bingo license for one year. The decision came about after a study, conducted by the clerks department, discovered that only three of the 16 charitable organizations presently conducting bingos, were adherring to the provincial regulation. The regulation states that any organization conducting a bingo must limit administrative ex- penses such as hall rent, advertising, honora- riums, equipment and security to 15 percent of gross receipts. The organization must also achieve profit levels of at least 20 per- cent of gross receipts. Before the vote was taken on the recom- mendation, Council Marcel Brunelle asked council members to amend the recommen- dation to state that only local charities be SEE PG. 20 44$ 444t44$4444$I¶~I4~ ~. .,,-...~,,, ~ 44,4,4~4,4,4,$,4,444,4,4,44,4~l 444 4 4 4 44 4,4444 44 44 *4*4 4 * j * 4 , * j 444 44 4 4 ~,~4,4~44*44444t4 Pringle Creek gets school Education Week