Sunday, November 18, 2007

Things that make you go Hmmm....

Not much time to devote to this one, but a very alert reader noticed this in Saturday's Financial Post - Who's getting, who's granting.

It's a list of top charitable givers and receivers, with the Toronto District School Board topping the list of Canada's richest charities at an astounding $2.4 billion dollars! By contrast, the Salvation Army ranks only 184, and Heart and Stroke failed to even get into the top 200.

Unfortunately, what isn't available online is the accompanying List of the top 10 most generous foundations, with the Ontario Trillium Foundation ranking first. I checked out their website and under "where we get our funding" is simply says that it is an "agency of the government of Ontario".

I would certainly appreciate any more information on why the TDSB would be top receiver, and a government of Ontario agency top foundation donor.

Thanks in advance.

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Important Monday Update: Education or segregation? Excellent article. Worth a separate post, but no time.


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lotteries, kiddo!

Anonymous said...

good question Joanne. Wouldn't the TDSB get the biggest chuck of the taxpayer pie too?

I have another question? Where's that money going?

Moira MacDonald had an article in the paper, I'm thinking last week that said that the TDSB had something like 60,000 empty pupil places and upwards of 40 schools half empty.

What's going on?

Anonymous said...

I spoke to a principal recently who said that 65% of the costs of running the school are covered by the provincial government. They have to scour for "partners" to help them operate. My daughter just started JK and had brought home 3 fundraisers in the first month.

D.L.

Anonymous said...

4 more years of this crap.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

As taxpayers, we trust that there is a strict level of accountability here. Perhaps the provincial auditor general keeps tabs on all this? I just don't understand all the government funding going to the TDSB and all the 'charity' funding on top of that.

Thanks Caveat about the lotteries being a huge source of Trillium income. That makes sense.

Anonymous said...

Lotteries are hidden taxation but at least there is the potential of a gain for the poor taxpayer. The TDSB is a communist agency whose sole purpose is to indoctrinate children while rewarding its socialist brothers and sisters. Question: If the TDSB is in fact a charity, then can other charities compete with it for government funding if they can also provide the same or similar service? Somebody ought to look into this.
(real conservative)

Anonymous said...

Yes, indeed, bugs under each rug.

Anonymous said...

Caveat - lottery cash would account for the Trillium ranking but the TDSB???

Anonymous said...

Seems to me I read recently that the TDSB also houses one of the largest and most expensive collections of artwork by the Group of Seven.

It came out initially when forensic auditor Mr.Rosen was hired by the Harris gov't to review the boards.

Something's fishy.

At a recent meeting at my southwestern Ontario school board we learned that over 80% of our education dollar now goes to pay salaries.

More proof that the public education system is more about keeping people employed than about educating children.

Trouble is, either parents don't care, or don't know most of this stuff.

In any other jurisdication there'd be hell to pay.

To coin a Joanne's Journey phrase
welcome to Lemmingville.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

I think we have another job for Steve Janke here.

Anonymous said...

At a recent meeting at my southwestern Ontario school board we learned that over 80% of our education dollar now goes to pay salaries.


That's been the case for at least 20 years.

Anonymous said...

actually LS the percentage of the taxdollar going to salaries has NOT been over 80% for the past twenty years.

It used to just over 70%.

Anonymous said...

Private schools should be allowed to compete for the funding recieved by the TDSB.

It's well known that they can do a much better job than public schools.

Children's education should come first, not bloated union empires.