TCDSB trustees meet over multi-million dollar deficit
Posted February 23, 2015 11:41 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Toronto Catholic District School Board learned Monday night just how bad their bookkeeping has been at a special meeting to discuss their multi-million dollar deficit.
An estimation error saw the board go from a $5-million surplus to a $43-million shortfall in just four months.
“It wasn’t a one plus one equals three error, it was an estimate of how much we need to put out for benefits coming in,” education director Angela Gauthier explained.
Trustee Maria Rizzo said she feels “totally betrayed” by the error.
“I trust our staff to do their job and I don’t feel they did their job in giving me the goods,” she said.
Documents obtained by CityNews on Saturday showed that not only is the TCDSB currently addressing a structural deficit of $16.9 million, but it is also facing reduced funding from the Ministry of Education of over $25 million.
The estimation error accounted for $10 million of the board’s current predicament.
Trustees met on Monday to discuss two possible plans which they hope will balance the budget in three years. The board must finalize a financial plan by June or risk the province appointing a supervisor.
Every school board in Ontario is required to operate on an annual balanced budget and the board will be working with finance experts from the Ministry of Education to formulate a special three-year financial recovery plan.
In order to meet the June deadline, staffing levels have to change and fast.
The board’s biggest source of spending is staffing, so redundancy notices must go out by the end of March and mid April for primary and secondary staff respectively.
“We don’t believe there will be layoffs,” said Gauthier. “We believe that any reduction in staff will be held through attrition.”
However, some trustees believe program cuts to special education and literacy could be in the future.
“As far as I’m concerned it’s going to mean major cuts to programs, even our sacred cows,” said Rizzo. “I’m very concerned about the ability to survive this.”
The board still needs to decide where the hard cuts will be made. They also need to choose whether they want to balance over three or four years. They will tackle those questions in the next few weeks.
Mobile users click here to read the TCDSB’s Deficit Recovery Options & Financial Forecast.
