Without adequate resources, meeting our education goals is impossible. The current funding formula makes school boards either run a deficit or cut essential services. This is unacceptable. It is time for the rhetoric to stop and for us to act.

The Green Party believes in a single publicly funded education system that treats all students fairly and equally and is relevant within the context of the local community.

The UN Human Rights Committee has censured Ontario twice (in 1999 and again in 2005) for violating the equality of its own citizens by funding Roman Catholic schools but not schools of other religions. The UN advocated accommodating religious diversity within a single publicly funded system. The Green Party would follow that advice and move to one school system with English and French streams.

To achieve these goals, the Green Party of Ontario will:

■ End funding for religious education in Ontario. This would save millions of tax dollars that can be reinvested in public education, allowing us to institute nutrition programs, make classes smaller, hire more counsellors and reinstate outdoor education, school nurses and other services now lacking in our schools.

■ Address problems with the funding formula by giving local school boards a say in how funds are to be spent.

■ Introduce a mandatory world religion course in all grades to promote tolerance, understanding and respect for every student in publicly funded schools.

■ Increase environmental education. To meet tomorrow’s challenges, children must become ecologically literate citizens. We must teach children the importance of sustainable living and an appreciation for their connection to their natural environment.

■ End standardized testing. Standardized testing is unhelpful, expensive and wastes time in schools. The tests are expensive to implement and since so much value is placed on test results, teachers are often encouraged to teach to the test, ignoring other student needs and interests.

■ Immediately address the $700-per-student funding gap between elementary and secondary students. We will do so by increasing elementary school funding, not decreasing secondary school funding.

■ Increase physical education and nutrition programs and make physical education courses mandatory in secondary school. At the same time, the GPO would invest in and encourage diverse and varied physical education programs to ensure that students have a choice of sports or other activities.

■ Extend loans to schools to finance the construction of renewable energy installations.

■ Introduce legislation to abolish the College of Teachers. The College of Teachers is redundant. Teachers are hired, monitored and disciplined effectively by local boards and the Ministry of Education. Unions are already very effective at standing up for the rights of teachers. This leaves the College with no unique duties.

Post-secondary education

The cost of tuition has continued to increase despite government promises to address the issue. Students graduate from college and university with unmanageable debt loads—about $15,000 per year of education.

The Green Party believes that high tuition is counterproductive to developing both a competitive economy and a qualified, engaged workforce.

To address this issue, the Green Party of Ontario will:

■ Provide $500 million per year by 2011 to cap university tuition at $3000 average per year and college tuition at $700. The Green Party understands that in the 21st century Ontario needs well-educated citizens who are able to achieve their full potential. The province will receive a return on this investment through labour productivity gains and a healthier, happier society.

■ Re-regulate currently unregulated undergraduate university programs.

■ Improve apprentice opportunities for skilled trades, agriculture and artisans.

■ Reinvest interest earned on student loans in grants to students in financial need and qualified foreign students. Qualified new and returning students in financial need should receive unrestricted or non-repayable bursaries.