On Education - Hudak Tories Just Don't Get it.

QUEEN'S PARK, Sept. 10 /CNW/ -Tim Hudak and the Conservatives are desperate for Ontario families to forget their shameful record of cuts to public education and chaos in Ontario classrooms:

Hudak-Harris Conservatives	McGuinty Liberals
Slashed $2-billion from public education, as per-student funding fell by $1250	Increased funding for education by more than $6 billion or $3,500 more per student
Students lost 24 million learning days under the Conservatives, due to strikes and labour disputes	ZERO learning days lost due to teacher strikes
Cuts to extra-curricular activities like team sports, arts and music	Ontario, one of the first jurisdictions to mandate daily physical activity in elementary schools
Cut funding for materials, books and libraries	Over 2 million new books in elementary school libraries since 2003
Closed nearly 200 elementary schools	400 new publicly-funded schools have been built or planned since 2003
Campaigned - twice - on funding private schools through taxpayer dollars	Committed champions of publicly-funded schools
Oppose full-day kindergarten for Ontario 4- and 5-year-olds; won't commit to fully funding the program if elected	For the first time ever, anywhere in North America, four- and five-year-olds are benefiting from full day kindergarten

In the next election, Ontario families will have a choice between the McGuinty Liberals—who have helped students succeed by investing in education, building new schools, and increasing test scores & graduation rates—and the Harris-Hudak Conservatives, who call full-day learning a "frill" and have opposed any new investment in public education for our kids.

When it comes to investing in students, Tim Hudak and the Conservatives just don't get it.

For further information:

Andrew Teliszewsky
[email protected]
416.325.3670