Premier Ernie Eves has shown his true nature with forced takeover of three of the largest school boards in the province. Each of the three - Toronto, Ottawa, and Hamilton - refused to comply with provincially imposed budgets that would have cut millions of dollars from their schools. In Toronto alone the amount totalled over $90 million. The report by Queen's Park investigator Al Rosen outlined what was to go: swimming pools, teachers assistants, computers, special ed assistants, lunchroom supervisors, outdoor education centres, hundreds of classrooms....

The provincial funding formula doesn't work. Everyone admits that. Yet the Eves government insists that the Toronto trustees should strip vital programs out of the schools in order to meet this arbitrary number. And when they failed to comply with this senseless dictate, he has put the Toronto Board under supervision. Along with the Hamilton and Ottawa, this means the Ontario Conservatives have taken control of democratically elected boards that represent over half a million students. It is a stunning misuse of raw power. And it marks a fundamental contempt for democracy.

The underfunding is not a dispute over "deficits". It is part of the crisis created by the downloading of costs onto our city and school boards by the Harris/Eves administration. Millions of dollars of local tax dollars have been siphoned out of this city - it is estimated that some 35% of all local education property tax does not come back to us. Instead, it is taken away by Queen's Park and replaced with a flawed funding formula. Since they came to power, the Tories have slashed education funding by over $1,000 per Toronto student.

The programs at risk are not frills. They are integral to a system of education that has allowed people in the most multicultural city in the world to live in relative harmony. That is recognized even by many of the elite who support the Harris revolution. The Globe and Mail has printed an outstanding editorial on the vital role of school programs in Toronto - and lambasting the provincial government for its short-sightedness.

Because of the widespread concern about this issue, many analysts are saying that Eves government is taking a huge political risk in taking over the three School Boards. The Tories were able to weather the anger over the forced amalgamation of the megacity, but they may take far more damage if parents across the province see their kids' future in jeopardy. That all depends on the nature of the cuts imposed, and the kind of fightback campaign built on the ground.

In Toronto, the Campaign for Public Education has been leading the struggle, and along with progressive trustees will play a central role in building a mass movement to defend the integrity of our education system. But the resistance needs to extend to all those who are offended by the misuse of power by Queen's Park, and who want to defend democracy as a central point in this fight. It is incumbent on the labour movement to be involved in all aspects of this issue, to educate and mobilize the membership regardless of where we work or live. As we have learned from the York Education Alliance, the battle for education does not stop at the city boundaries.

Therefore, the Executive Board recommends that:

1) Labour Council call for the provincial government to immediately remove the supervision over the three School Boards;

2) Labour Council call on the provincial government to declare a moratorium on cuts to the budgets of the Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton Boards, and fix the flawed funding formula by guaranteeing the resources required to give our students what they need to succeed;

3) Labour Council and its affiliates continue to work with the Campaign for Public Education, parents and community groups to mobilize across the city to defend the integrity of our education system and the democratic right of elected school trustees to represent their constituents.