OACS News Service

Learn as much as you can before election: Bierman
Friday July 20, 2007 -- Deron Hamel
Parents of children attending independent schools in Ontario can use summer as a time to educate themselves about issues relating to independent schools in the upcoming provincial election, says Barb Bierman.

Bierman, provincial spokesperson for Parents for Educational Choice (PEC), a group of parents advocating government-supported school choice, says at the moment the only hope parents have of seeing faith-based schools join the public education system is if the Conservative party forms the next provincial government.

The provincial election is being held Oct. 10.

“Parents have a few things they can do during the summer,” says Bierman. “They can . . . spend some time on the website to just familiarize themselves with the issues.”

As it stands, Bierman says parents of many children in faith-based schools struggle to pay tuition.

“We have got parents who are within just a couple hundred bucks of just not being able to afford this for their kids anymore,” she says.

For six years, PEC has been trying to get the Ontario Liberals and NDP to support funding for faith-based schools in the Ontario public school system, but have so far has had no luck.

“The Conservative party is still the only party that is offering a solution to parents,” says Bierman. “What I’m saying to parents is that I understand when they vote, there is a lot to think about. I also know that if this issue is important to you, you’ve got to decide where that falls in the range of importance to you.”

Currently, Roman Catholic schools in Ontario receive provincial funding. The Ontario Tories say they will push for the same type of funding to all faith-based schools that already exists in Catholic schools.

“I think what we want to do is try and replicate the successful experience of the Catholic schools, which are funded today, and do it in a way that expands the sphere of public education to accommodate the diversity that is Ontario today,” Opposition Leader John Tory told The Canadian Press in June.

For more information, visit the PEC website at http://www.parentseduchoice.org.