Greater Toronto Catholic Parent Network

In a flurry of voting early Tuesday morning, Toronto Catholic trustees effectively balanced their budget, cutting almost $14 million and putting several areas under review to make up the difference.

"We are committed to a balanced budget," said Chair Catherine LeBlanc-Miller after the voting. She said if there's any deficit left over after the review, "it will come out of trustee services, trustee expenses."

Among the cuts approved:

–Laying off 85 teachers, $4 million

–Not hiring secondary teachers to fill job openings, $1 million

–10 per cent reduction to school budgets, $1.2 million

–Laying off support staff (caretakers, secretaries) $782,000

–Contract child and youth workers, $500,000

Trustees rejected a move to axe full-day kindergarten, an issue they had previously voted against even though staff had suggested it could save almost a million.

Staff had said that sending out layoff notices in the fall - eliminating 85 teacher positions and 32 support staff such as caretakers and secretaries - effective Jan. 1, "will cause upheaval for a large number of students" but save more than $5 million.

"The actual result will be that the laid-off teachers will vacate their classroom and a teacher with seniority will replace them. The effect will be that students will have new teachers and new relationships will have to be established."

Trustees had nixed the idea of any teacher layoffs, but reconsidered that move after Education Minister Kathleen Wynne said she was concerned about the board's financial position in light of the board's budget deficit and the trustee spending scandal. She sent in a provincial investigator last week and asked him to report back in a week.

Toronto Catholic District School Board trustees met Monday night, their first of two meetings this week after three last week, to whittle down the board's deficit. Trustees are also in hot water with the province following a blistering May 7 report by a provincial investigator, who found they cost taxpayers more than $100,000 a year, about the highest in Ontario, even more than their counterparts at the Toronto public board, at $67,000.

Norbert Hartmann uncovered all kinds of spending abuses, including frequent meals and meals with alcohol charged to the public purse, as well as ice cream at the Woodbridge Dairy Queen and thousands spent on promotional materials. Trustees were also keeping board-bought equipment such as cellphones after their term was over, and one was charging the board rent for a home office.

Trustee Mary Cicogna had billed the board for almost $700 for a trip to Florida, which she said was to check out Ave Maria University, a Catholic post-secondary institution she said is trying to make inroads in attracting Canadian students.

However, in a letter distributed to trustees and the public Monday night, she said she wanted to withdraw her expense, filed after Hartmann's May 7 report, "not because it is an inappropriate expenditure, this is a legitimate expense based on the policies that existed during that period in time, but I feel that it is necessary to do this in order to begin the process of restoring public confidence."

Hartmann's report was released as the board enters the final year of a three-year "deficit management plan," but it still needs to trim the remaining $5.6 million to balance the books as required by the province.

At the meeting last week, trustees also decided to end their medical/dental and life insurance benefits -- which aren't allowed under the Education Act - as of July 1 and end their car allowance, which is not permitted either.

Trustees approved these perks, with no dissention mentioned in board minutes, against the advice of lawyers and staff.

The Toronto Elementary Catholic Teachers union has said it's not fair for the board to balance the budget on the backs of its members, and said the cuts are beyond what's necessary to address declining enrolment, which this year is about 900 students across the board. The union also says trustees should look to cutting administration and governance, areas where the board has overspent $6 million in the past four years.

While Trustee Joe Martino said all the suggestions Monday night were small and "not going to get us anywhere," Trustee John Del Grande said he thought there were all kinds of savings available, including axing full-day kindergarten in the New Year to save $450,000.

Trustees had previously voted not to cut full-day kindergarten for senior kindergarten students in a handful of schools, even though it is not funded by the province, because it has been a highly successful program and because the province is set to bring in a similar program in a couple of years.

"People are asking where's the money, there's all kinds of pockets here," said Del Grande, citing savings such as not filling secondary teacher openings - where enrolment is expected to surge by 400 students - cutting paper and photocopying at schools, cutting some child and youth workers to save half a million dollars. He also thought $1 million could be saved from sick leave replacements.

Earlier in the evening, the board heard from the head of the elementary teachers union, who said laying off 85 teachers at Christmastime will cause too much disruption.

Anthony Bellissimo, head of Toronto Elementary Catholic Teachers, said the board's class sizes are not as small as they should be in elementary schools, nor does the board spend all the money it is allocated for elementary schools in that area.

"Do the hard work, and it is hard work, to find the money outside the classroom," he said.

However, Martino pointed out Monday night, to cries of shame from the audience, that the board has overspent for many years on teacher salaries compared to what they are given by the province, as most others across the province do.

On Monday night, ratepayer Michael Baillargeon said trustees should cut their yearly honorarium, limit expenses to $250 per month and use secretarial services supplied by the board.

He also said Trustee Oliver Carroll, who expensed $7,577 for a master's degree in educational administration, should repay the money. "Get in line for a student loan like our children did and like today's students must," he said.

Baillargeon also urged the trustees who employed each other's relatives, at a cost of $4,000 each - Trustees John Del Grande and Ann Andrachuk - repay that money, and said that Andrachuk should not have been paid rent for using a home office

"This money needs to be paid back, all of it. It was a mistake. It was mistakenly approved and it should be paid back," he said before handing a can of paint and a brush over to a board administrator so that trustees can cover up their names on school signs.

Parents, ratepayers and even colleagues across the province have been calling for beleaguered trustees to resign, saying they've tainted the board, even Catholic education, and no longer have the right to be there. Trustees were even admonished by Toronto's archbishop for their spending.

However, Monday night, James Regan, claiming to speak on behalf of 100 east-end parents, spoke in support of trustees. "They still love you, they still support you," he said of the parents.

"We group of parents are paranoid and concerned that our Catholic education system will be taken over" by the provincial government," he said, adding the media tends to sensationalize and focus on the negative.

Wynne last week sent in investigator Pierre Filiatrault to review the board's finances and recommend whether she should send in a supervisor.

"By appointing an investigator, I am declaring publicly I have lost confidence in the board's ability to manage its financial affairs," said Wynne at the time.

A forensic auditing team is now working at the board to "reconcile" spending abuses - possibly forcing trustees to repay - and to report any fraud to police.