School Fees

I received a question through email tonight about school fees and here is the question followed by my response:

"Hi there,

I am a property owner with my taxes going to the public school system.

I find the fees associated with school programming in highschools to be unfair to family's.

I have attached the fees and would like to know your thoughts.

Public education is not equal for all. If one does not pay the fees, the education received is the same. It becomes a moral/ethical issue of paying a debt.

What will you do to ensure fairness for public education and an end to exorbatent fees above and beyond property taxation?

thank you for your time."

My Answer:

"Thank you for your email. You bring up some very valid concerns within our school system. It is concerned parents such as yourself that I want to work with to make our school division better!

I wish I could tell you that I had an answer for you right now. But truth be told, I am not in a position to promise anything without looking into this at a much deeper level.

I am the type of person that will not make empty promises to secure your vote. But I can tell you this, by you bringing up this concern, when I am elected as Trustee, I will most definitely look into this to understand why these fees are being charged to you as a tax payer and see if there is a way that we can reduce them or even eliminate them. Within the school division, if we allocate resources in one area, that usually means dollars will be taken away from another area. I am determined to find out where the tax payers dollars are going to waste and put those funds towards places where it matters most.

Thank you for your email and if you have any other questions please let me know."