Just last month, Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra passed new legislation, the “Supporting Children and Students Act” which increased provincial oversight of school boards and strengthened financial oversight and transparency.
At the time, Calandra flagged that “everything is on the table” when it came to school board governance but then quickly stressed he would not be “abolishing a Catholic board” or looking at establishing independent charter schools.
His caution is understandable. Both Catholic and French language education in Ontario is considered to be constitutionally protected and attempts by a provincial government to interfere in those rights would most likely result in divisive and controversial court battles.
Calandra may not want to step into that quagmire, but he is clearly contemplating significant governance changes after 4 more school boards had to be taken over by the provincial government for their inability to balance budgets and stay focused on their core mandates – educating students.
Independent investigations of both the Toronto public and Toronto Catholic boards, the Ottawa-Carleton and the Dufferin-Peel Catholic boards showed “growing deficits, depleting reserves and ongoing cases of mismanagement.”
This is not the first time a provincial government has had to intervene in this way. Both the Toronto boards and the Dufferin-Peel board were taken over by previous Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments.
In the current cases, “all four investigations recommended immediate intervention,” Calandra said, stressing that the boards had had multiple opportunities to address their structural financial issues but had failed to do so.
The move brings the total to five school boards now under the provincial control of a supervisor. The Thames Valley board was put under supervision in April.
The supervisors’ mandate is straightforward, “to fix the mismanagement and refocus resources where they belong, in the classroom,” he said. The goal is to get the boards on a “sustainable, long-term financial footing.”
Critics blame the provincial government for the mess, claiming that all that is needed is more money. And while provincial funding is higher than it’s ever been under this government, it is fair to point out that it has not matched inflation.
But very few organizations don’t face budgetary pressures of one kind or another. Fulfilling one’s mandate within the available budget is financial management table stakes. And as Calandra pointed out, other boards are managing within their budgets and “doing the right thing.”
But the continuation of financial mismanagement stories by certain boards is understandably causing Calandra to consider broader solutions, including changes to funding.
“The supervisors have a clear mandate,” he said. “If our funding causes challenges in certain boards, then we’ll take a look at that.”
But there will never be “enough” money. School boards have always and will most certainly, continue to lobby for more, regardless of any increases. What is important now, is to take a fundamental look at the entire governance and accountability structure.
Calandra’s frustration is evident. “I’m just literally, done with trustees or boards of education that go on tangents, that work outside their mandate, that refuse to live by the funding model,” he told reporters.
“We have schools that are unsafe, teachers who are frustrated and students and parents who don’t feel that they’re getting the quality of education that $30 billion” should provide, Calandra said candidly.
That sound you hear is parents applauding.
The Minister didn’t spare provincial governments in his criticisms either. Governments’ downloading responsibility to school boards “to avoid owning issues…has to stop,” he said. “It is time for us to take on that responsibility…and make sure that the system we expect is what we deliver.”
This is not the first government that has contemplated dramatic governance changes. Stay tuned.
Janet Ecker is a former Ontario Finance Minister, Minister of Education, Minister of Community and Social Services and Government House Leader in the governments of Premier Mike Harris and Premier Ernie Eves. After her political career, she served as the founding CEO of the Toronto Financial Services Alliance, a public-private partnership dedicated to building Toronto region into an international financial centre. She currently sits on a number of corporate and non-profit boards, agencies and advisory committees.
Ms. Ecker received the Order of Canada for her public service contributions and was recognized as one of the “Most Influential People in the World’s Financial Centres” by Financial Centres International. She also received a “Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award” from the Women’s Executive Network and the Richard Ivey School of Business, among other awards. She is also one of the founders of Equal Voice, a national, multi-partisan organization working to elect more women.
