Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A disturbing difference between the U.S. and Canada involves teachers. From my understanding, there are no state or national unions for teachers. Each school board pays its teachers the wages it can afford and negotiate. This means that poor, urban centres with a low tax base, offer lower wages. The richer, suburban areas end up getting the better quality teachers, it would seem. The effect is reflected in Maryland where testing in Baltimore's inner-city schools showed 10 to 13 percent of students reached the minimum standard of knowledge for the grade level they were in. Meanwhile, in the richer areas the results were easily three to four times higher.

These sort of results have also resulted in the state going in and taking over the schools with poor test results and trying to establish better learning. This has been done with mixed results. Since each school board set its own curriculum, each school may teach different parts of courses. This includes core courses. This has resulted in many students, even "A" students not being properly prepared for post-secondary education.

Some colleges and universities have set up summer orientation courses to further educate freshman and bring them up to speed in an effort to prepare them for university courses. There is even talk of freshman using their first year of post-secondary education to upgrade their education enough to be able to handle a full university workload. Sounds familiar, Mr. Speaker.

Lastly, there was talk about the charter school system in the States. Charter schools are a relatively new type of public school, that is released from many of the regulations normally applied to public schools. In return there is an increased accountability to ensure students achieve better results. Half the states have passed legislation authorizing the establishment of charter schools. Each charter school is treated like an independent school agency. They get their funding directly from the state. Many areas are looking at charter schools because they feel they will have more say in its operations and standards.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to end my report there . The information on these and other subjects will soon be available in the legislature's library. I found my time in Washington to be very informative and to be able to speak with people who are attempting to deal with many of the same concerns and problems we are, is both eye-opening and helpful. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.