Is Gulaptis a real friend of public education or does he sing from O'Farrell's song sheet?

In TV ads promoting Chris Gulaptis as the Nationals candidate for Clarence Mr Gulaptis is seen standing near public schools. He sent his children to public schools and is quick to remind the electorate that he was the president of the Maclean High School Parents & Citizens Association.  

Mr Gulaptis should read Dick McDermott's letter to the editor of The Coffs Coast Advocate (see below) and then come out and tell the Clarence electorate where he really stands in relation to public education in November 2011.

Schools sold out

I've been a teacher for 38 years. I retire next year. I never believed I would see the day any State Government, be it Labor or conservative, would stoop to a level so low that they would hold their teachers to ransom rather than negotiate a new award which would allow wages to keep pace with inflation.

From January 1, 2012, public school teachers' salaries will be reduced annually unless they agree to measures that would relieve the government of the responsibility to fully fund the learning conditions of pupils in public schools.

Incidentally, there are no such conditions placed on teachers in private schools

What the latest O'Farrell legislation amounts to is asking the state's teachers, those who deliver the service, to finance the very service they are providing.

What the O'Farrell Government, of which local member Andrew Fraser is a member, is clearly doing is attempting to run down public education, the only education open to those most in need.

One in two people with children in public schools must have actually voted for Mr Fraser in the last election never having been told this was his agenda.

The O'Farrell Government is masking its deceit, attempting to hide this abrogation of responsibility by cloaking it in terms of what they call local autonomy.

By kidding parents that giving local school communities the choice to run their public schools the way they want, the government is slyly absolving itself of the responsibility to run our public schools the way they should be run.

This local autonomy push is a great "con" perpetrated by politicised bureaucrats and those who would be.

Don't fall for it mums and dads; it is yet another case of a national asset being flogged off or driven into the ground in the name of privatisation, but this time it will directly affect your kids.

Please see through the spin, join with teachers and resist.

Dick McDermott

Source: Letters, Coffs Coast Advocate, 5/11/11