An education platform primer
Tracy Barron | CBC Online News | Sept. 30

The biggest nugget in the Liberal platform is in education.

A Grimes-led government is promising new post-secondary graduates $100,000 in tax-free earnings to stay in the province.

It will come in the form of a credit equal to the amount of personal income tax paid on the first $100,000 earned.

The Tories have their own version of that. They're promising to establish a provincial income tax credit for post-secondary graduates who take jobs in professions with skills shortages or in under-serviced areas. It would allow graduates to write off their student debt over five or 10 years.

The Liberals' education plan is meant to build on initiatives already in place. The government has reformed education and reduced tuition and class sizes.

To make education more affordable, the Liberals are proposing to increase the eligibility threshold for student financial assistance.

That will allow more students from middle-income families to qualify for student loans. The Tory plan is to freeze tuition fees at MUN and College of the North Atlantic, and introduce a loan remission program and needs-based grants.

Both the Tories and Liberals plan to create an incentive program for employers to hire new graduates.

The Tory plan is full of achievement standards for the K-12 system from ensuring all students meet the national literary and numeracy target by 2010, to bringing under-performing schools in line with provincial targets.

The blue book outlines the party's plan for improving the education system from here forward, whereas the Liberals talk of building on their plan already in place.

Both promise to review the high school curriculum for relevancy, and to ensure teachers and students have the proper tools for learning.

The Tories, however, plan to introduce a mandatory history and culture course. The New Democrats aren't campaigning to form the next government, but education is a large part of the party's platform. The NDP are campaigning for:

• smaller class sizes;
• a more flexible school busing policy;
• safer and healthier schools through hot-meal and anti-bullying programs ; and
• skills retraining and adult education in a strengthened public post-secondary system.

NDP Leader Jack Harris vows that more New Democrats will ensure education works for the people of the province. To do that, he's promising to fight for the elimination of all school fees, including high school text books.

That's something the Liberals also promise to do.

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