Ford government focus on trustee expenses a ‘distraction’ from school funding, critic says
Global News
Data obtained by Global News shows a growing number of Ontario school boards have reported financial difficulties in recent years.
The NDP education critic says a bitter row over whether trustees should be allowed to expense milkshakes and projectors or whether the education minister spends too much on hotels in Toronto is a “distraction” from deep financial issues at Ontario’s school boards.
In recent weeks, the Ford government has highlighted spending by school board trustees as evidence of mismanagement, as the education minister plots a massive overhaul of how school boards are run.
Critics have argued the crusade is taking centre stage instead of growing funding issues in the classroom, which they say come from the government failing to keep pace with inflation.
Internal documents obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws show school boards have reported increasing financial problems in recent years.
The number of boards reporting deficits, in particular, has shot up in the past five years, with a total deficit across the province’s 72 boards of almost $200 million last year.
NDP education critic Chandra Pasma said the documents show the focus on trustee expenses fails to address problems in the sector.
“I think it demonstrates that the minister’s attacks on school boards have been nothing but a distraction,” she said. “When the number of boards with a deficit is going up, that’s not a management issue on the part of boards, that’s a funding issue on the part of the province.”
A briefing prepared for Education Minister Paul Calandra earlier this year said boards used to report “an overall surplus in their financial statements.”
The agency says more than 22,000 people have been removed from the country in the last 12 months, and nearly 30,000 removals were "in progress" as of Oct. 31.
A problem with the signalling system caused a service interruption this morning on Montreal's light-rail network.
An Ontario lawyer accused by American authorities of advising a Canadian Olympian-turned-alleged-cocaine kingpin has had his licence to practice law suspended.
The FIFA draw ceremony will mark the first time Prime Minister Mark Carney, U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum will be in the same room.
A new report finds anglophones face higher unemployment and lower wages in Quebec; gaps that researchers say carry major economic consequences.
Critics are questioning the solidity of Saab's pitch to deliver 10,000 jobs in Canada if it decides to set up shop here to assemble Gripen fighter jets.
The girl’s disappearance underscores long-standing concerns about the ease with which a parent can take a child to another country without the other parent’s knowledge or consent.
Asbestos cleanup, tight work windows and other TTC delays have slowed the build out of 5G cellular service in Toronto's subway system.
Alberta's UCP government is changing the rules to make it easier for citizens to force a referendum on issues such as the prospect of the province leaving Confederation.
An at-home DNA test given as a birthday gift solved an 80-year family mystery by revealing that a man in Quebec and a man in the Netherlands were long-lost brothers.
Lina Vargas was on the board for almost two years and told Global News that accountability and transparency are fundamental rights for all community members.
Industry Minister Melanie Joly told the House of Commons committee on international trade the move breaches federal contracts tied to manufacturing in Brampton and Windsor, Ont.
A targeted home invasion and kidnapping led to a gunpoint standoff with police and an overnight chase across Toronto. Two suspects remain at large, investigators say.