John Tory and Faith-based Private Schools

Well, turns out where I'm staying has a wireless connection! I'll be too busy to really make use of it this week, however, I felt I should chime in on John Tory's upcoming campaign proposal regarding faith based education, since I went to a Christian elementary school for five years.

Here's the brief overview that I got from the CBC on the road today... John Tory supports a parent's right to opt for private faith-based education, but rather than doing so via a voucher based tax credit, he favours providing direct funding for these schools, provided that they in some measure come under the authority of their local public school board. At the same time, he favours increasing funding to the public system, not taking from the public system to fund faith-based education.

According to the CBC, Mr. Tory is planning to release more details on this tomorrow. However, based on the details mentioned by the CBC, here's my take on the idea... IT MIGHT JUST COST HIM THE ELECTION. Most of the people I know, who sacrifice to send their kids to private Christian schools, will never support such a plan... and might just be willing to actively campaign against it. (despite the common stereotype that they're rich... trust me, my parents are not) Here's just a few reasons why they'll never support it...

Firstly, people who choose to send their kids, like my parents, often do so to REMOVE their kids from the influence of the public system, and the boards that run them. These boards are the same ones who are implementing immoral sex education programs, and ramming humanistic philosophy down the throats of kids. Parents of faith often remove their kids from the public system in order to protect them from being overtly converted to humanism by the world.

Secondly, in order to receive funding, some degree of the school's autonomy will most certainly have to be given up... there's no way they'll be able to get at this money without the government attaching strings. Most parents greatly value this autonomy, which enables the schools to select the curriculum, the teaching staff, etc. Parents aren't likely to give that up willingly.

Thirdly, and what should be most important to John Tory, for many parents who support faith based education, this idea may just be enough for them to NOT vote for Mr. Tory, and just choose to stay home... or, if they're really bothered by it, as I'm starting to be, may just be enough for them to vote AGAINST Mr. Tory, by supporting Dalton McGuinty.

In an effort to throw a bone to a part of the PC base who support faith based education, he may have inadvertently thrown them a bone of contention instead... and since these parents are willing to sacrifice to send their children to these schools, you can be sure that they're going to do whatever it takes to ensure that the government doesn't get control of their schools.

This is a really bad move that may just be enough to cost him the election.

Tax credits are what these parents want, since they're having to pay TWICE for their children's education, once via property taxes, and once via private tuition fees. Rather than try to put forward an idea like this Mr. Tory, I would have done nothing about the whole private school issue. If I were you, I'd just try to forget this idea and let it quietly die between now and the October election.

Let me be crystal clear... if my local PC candidate supports this idea, I'll likely be staying home come election day. That's how important this issue is... Mr. Tory, you need to drop it NOW, otherwise you put your electoral chances in severe jeopardy.

We'll see what the details of the plan are. Please post links to anything you see in the comments, as I'll have a hard time following this while I'm away.