Two education reporters are fretting about the effect of voluntary giving on the part of parents in school areas where there is enough money in the home to do that. For most families, it’s just a few dollars that can be set aside for this purpose, not hundreds. The implication of the article last week in the Globe and Mail is that somehow it would be better if every school received exactly the same number of dollars whether from taxes or those that are gift-given. Caroline Alphonso (above) and Kate Hammer say that a mere $45 per year was raised privately per pupil by Thorncliffe Park Public School. The two writers say this “raises questions” of equity in the public-education system. Alphonso and Hammer don’t mention — because they don’t know about — all the things rich parents do for their kids totally unrelated to school No doubt about it, it’s better to have money. But it’s mighty inequitable. The writers acknowledge that the Toronto and District School Board makes grants to high-need schools but they say this cannot “catch up with the hundreds of thousands of dollars schools in the city’s richest neighbourhoods raise.” Maybe not. But realistically lots is done to help poor schools (and possibly more should be done). As to Thorncliffe Park, it is closely linked to Leaside and Davisville Village. The connections are many and intimate. They range from charities that focus on that neighborhood to the enrolment of Thorncliffe kids at the the arena facility in Leaside. The country’s largest newly-opened kindergarten housing as many 700 toddlers sits beside Thorncliffe School. School gift-giving is also greatly supported by business, as was the case in the dirt-to-turf campaign at Maurice Cody. It is also Leaside business that funds much of the giving directed to Thorncliffe Park. Globe writers fret “inequitable” school gift-giving
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Two education reporters are fretting about the effect of voluntary giving on the part of parents in school areas where there is enough money in the home to do that. For most families, it’s just a few dollars that can be set aside for this purpose, not hundreds. The implication of the article last week in the Globe and Mail is that somehow it would be better if every school received exactly the same number of dollars whether from taxes or those that are gift-given. Caroline Alphonso (above) and Kate Hammer say that a mere $45 per year was raised privately per pupil by Thorncliffe Park Public School. The two writers say this “raises questions” of equity in the public-education system. Alphonso and Hammer don’t mention — because they don’t know about — all the things rich parents do for their kids totally unrelated to school No doubt about it, it’s better to have money. But it’s mighty inequitable. The writers acknowledge that the Toronto and District School Board makes grants to high-need schools but they say this cannot “catch up with the hundreds of thousands of dollars schools in the city’s richest neighbourhoods raise.” Maybe not. But realistically lots is done to help poor schools (and possibly more should be done). As to Thorncliffe Park, it is closely linked to Leaside and Davisville Village. The connections are many and intimate. They range from charities that focus on that neighborhood to the enrolment of Thorncliffe kids at the the arena facility in Leaside. The country’s largest newly-opened kindergarten housing as many 700 toddlers sits beside Thorncliffe School. School gift-giving is also greatly supported by business, as was the case in the dirt-to-turf campaign at Maurice Cody. It is also Leaside business that funds much of the giving directed to Thorncliffe Park. 