THERE MUST BE SOME WAY TO SAVE PROGRAMS

The news coming out of the current Halton District School Board's budget
deliberations isn't good.

The board is seriously considering cutting the Drug Awareness Resistance
Education (DARE), Celebrating Literacy, and Food for Thought programs.

The three programs are aimed at preventing problems down the road by
catching at-risk kids at an early age and, perhaps, giving them a nudge in
the right direction.

The programs might just keep a few children from becoming permanent
financial burdens on society in the future.

Yet, the public school board is considering cutting them.

Why? The board claims that due to chronic underfunding from the province,
it has no choice. And its claims don't appear hollow because the same
scenario is being replayed in almost every school board across the province.

We hope the school board isn't crying wolf by sending out alarmist signals.
We also hope the board is seriously looking into its own administrative
budgets to find any fat to trim before putting worthy school programs on
the chopping block.

A valuable part of our children's education will be lost unless a solution
is found.