TORONTO - A proposal to fund public religious schools is "the greatest threat to public education'' in Ontario and would "hollow out'' public schools across the province, the head of the Liberal election campaign said Friday.

The Progressive Conservative proposal would force the province to build religious schools across Ontario, luring students away from existing public schools, Finance Minister Greg Sorbara said in a media conference call hosted by The Canadian Press.

"I am saying to voters, do not even flirt with this dangerous policy,'' Sorbara said.

"This is a ship that will not float. This is the greatest threat to public education that I've heard of since I've been in government . . . Our candidates are hearing from people all over the province about how foolish and inappropriate these proposals are.''

Religious groups fighting for public funding dismissed Sorbara's comments as "offensive.''

Fully funding Catholic schools hasn't hurt Ontario's public system and bringing other faiths into the public system would be no different, said Steven Shulman, regional director with the Canadian Jewish Congress.

"What these other faith groups want is simply fairness,'' said Shulman, whose organization is part of the Public Education Fairness Network, which also includes Armenian Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh groups.

"It is offensive to suggest that the schools of one faith add to public education but schools of other faiths would detract from it.''

The provincial election campaign officially kicks off Monday, but the controversial proposal to include faith-based schools in the public system has rapidly become one of the defining issues.

Premier Dalton McGuinty indicated Friday the Liberals will continue to focus heavily on education throughout the coming campaign.

"It's no secret -- I'm going to talk a lot about education,'' McGuinty said following a speech at the Toronto Board of Trade.

"I've always said if I could ever be known as anything, I'd like to be known as the education premier. I think it's really, really important to all of us.''

Conservative Leader John Tory said if he is elected Oct. 10, religious schools will get $400 million in public money if they opt into the public system, hire accredited teachers, teach the Ontario curriculum and administer standardized tests.

Tory got into hot water this week by musing that such public religious schools could teach creationism on top of evolution and "other theories.''

He later urged voters not to judge him solely on the basis of his proposal to include religious schools in the public system, saying that was only "a quarter of a page'' in the Conservative platform.

Ingrid Thompson, a spokeswoman for Tory, said he wasn't available for comment Friday but said Sorbara's comments show the Liberals are "desperate for people to believe that kind of distortion.''

The public school system has not suffered in other provinces where religious schools are under the umbrella of the public system, Shulman said.

Five other provinces, Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec, offer some form of public funding for independent schools.

Most Ontario religious schools already have their own buildings and the creation of new public religious programs would help fill existing public schools whose future is threatened by half-empty classrooms, he added.

"There would be buildings coming into the public education system,'' Shulman said.

"In many neighbourhoods where there are half-empty public schools, you could keep those community schools open because you would bring more kids in.''