Catholic schools to ditch casino revenue

Archdiocese 'won't wait forever' for Catholic schools to ditch casinos
Moral stance trumps replacing revenues, archbishop insists
By Andrea Sands, Edmonton Journal



Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith says he wants to cut off gambling revenues to Catholic schools "as quickly as is feasible," whether or not other funding has been lined up.

Smith said this week he is working with Catholic school trustees to figure out how schools will replace gambling dollars with money from acceptable sources.

"But we still won't be waiting forever for this to happen," Smith said.

"I want to work with the school board on this to come up with a time-line. But if it's a moral issue, which it is, then you can't just have this open-ended until you get replacement dollars. That doesn't work, as a moral stance."

The Archdiocese of Edmonton set a policy last fall against using gambling profits in all Catholic institutions, which includes schools. The policy came into effect Oct. 1, but Smith decided to give schools extra time to comply.

"The gambling institution really causes terrible hardship and pain and suffering for so many," he said. "We're saying, as a Christian church, as a Catholic Church, we ought not to be profiting from activities that hurt other people. So on that basis, I've said 'Let's bring this to an end.' "

Smith said he has heard from lots of parents worried about how the loss of gaming revenues will affect their children's education.

Gaming money, mainly from casinos, is used across Edmonton's school system for hot-lunch programs, equipment and field trips. That money is given to parents' councils whose members volunteer to work at casinos, and the funds are then passed on to schools.

Eighty-six of the Catholic district's 87 schools receive roughly $6 million every 18 months from casinos, not including matching grants.

The Cathol i c school board's annual budget is just under $338.5 million. Casino revenues don't flow into that budget but go directly to individual schools and are supposed to be for extras.

The money is often spent on necessities though, especially at schools with small budgets which rely heavily on the casino money, said Catholic board chairwoman Debbie Engel.

The board has put a "think-tank" group together to come up with solutions to the casino funding problem and intends to lobby the provincial government to change the system.

One strategy will be to find out the total amount of money individual parent councils raise for schools across Alberta, said Engel. The province should just budget that amount for schools and get rid of the casinos as a funding source for schools, she said. "That money is needed in public education and it should come out of general revenues."

The funding model that has parent councils earning casino dollars doesn't make sense, and parent volunteers at casinos are just "window dressing," said Engel. "It's just warm bodies there to fulfil part of the gaming act ... The whole thing is so off. I am so frustrated with it," she said.

"It's not just a Catholic issue."

Both Engel and Smith said school trustees and parents understand the moral reasons to stop relying on gambling profits.

"The question for them is, 'What about the practical side of this. What is it going to mean for my children?' " said Smith. "We've got a lot of smart people around our table and we can work this out. I mean, we all realize that, fundamentally, in our Catholic institutions, whether it's our parishes or our schools, we need to work in a way that's consistent with our identity, with who we are. ... We are a people of social justice. That's the heart of the Gospel. Let's make sure we're living that out consistently across the board."