The Ontario government is launching a financial investigation into the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB), after Ottawa’s largest school board posted deficit budgets for four straight years and is facing a multi-million-dollar deficit next school year.
Education Minister Paul Calandra announced Wednesday the province is taking action to “increase accountability” for school boards across the province.
The Ministry of Education is launching financial investigations into three school boards, including the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, “after their failures to address ongoing financial deficit and spending concerns,” the province said.
Calandra says the investigation into the Ottawa public school board and two Toronto school boards will validate the boards’ current financial positions, with a report to be presented by the end of May.
“We know that it isn’t just about one or two bad decisions. It points to a broader problem; a pattern of mismanagement and misplaced priorities,” Calandra told reporters at Queen’s Park.
“I want to be very clear - I will be absolutely relentless in ensuring that school boards are accountable to students, parents and teachers.”
Trustees used $9.1 million in reserves to balance the 2024-25 OCDSB budget when it was approved last June. However, the board is now projecting a $4.2 million deficit this year due to wage increases for teachers.
Trustees have been told they will need to find up to $20 million in savings to balance the 2025-26 OCDSB budget.
Last month, the school board approved a plan to cut more than 150 teaching and administrative positions to help address the projected shortfall for next school year. The board will also decrease 46.78 full-time equivalent teaching positions due to declining enrolment.
The OCDSB owes the Ministry of Education $11.1 million to cover last year’s deficit, according to the board. The ministry reports the Ottawa school board has been reporting in-year deficits since the 2021-22 school year.
“At the end of the 2023-24 school year, the board had completely depleted its reserves,” the province said in a statement. “The ministry is now appointing a financial investigator to validate the school board’s current financial position and recommend whether control and charge of the board should be vested in the ministry. The investigator will present a report of their findings to the minister of education by May 30.”
Appearing on Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron, Calandra said, “They seem completely unwilling to move back to a balanced budget position.”
“The investigator will help me better understand the challenges that they face and the decisions that need to be made to bring it back to balance,” he said.
The financial investigator will look at all facets of the board’s financial position, Calandra says.
“Where are they spending money? Is there anything that can be done in the short term that can put them back on the path to balance?” he said. “If the investigator comes back to me and says they’re doing everything they possibly can… then we will assist them. Failing that, I will not hesitate to take on the responsibility that is required of the Minister of Education… to ensure that there is accountability at that board.”
OCDSB Chair Lynn Scott told CTV News Ottawa that the OCDSB acknowledges its deficits and will fully cooperate with the provincial investigation. However, Scott said the COVID-19 pandemic and a “misalignment” between the board’s staffing model and the province’s funding formula contributed to the budget shortfalls.
“The deficits in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 were related to pandemic response efforts, including maintaining daycare operations and technology infrastructure to support student learning,” she said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. “The deficits in the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 fiscal years were largely due to shortfalls, specifically regarding retroactive payments related to Bill 124 and cost of living allowances. Our analysis indicates that a key driver of the shortfall is a misalignment between our staffing model and the current funding formula.”
Scott said other areas of concern include replacement costs associated with staff absences and the school board’s model for special education, which she said are “significantly underfunded.”
“This is also compounded by the moratorium on school closures, in particular, as we have multiple schools well below the required occupancy rates,” Scott wrote.
“We have already taken proactive steps to address transportation funding shortfalls in the 2024-2025 budget. In addition, the OCDSB has been working on a structural deficit action plan that involves a significant reduction in academic and non-academic positions. We are also proposing program changes that will allow us to more effectively and efficiently utilize our resources.”
Calandra says he will move “very quickly” on the next steps in Ottawa after the financial investigator’s report is filed in five weeks.
“I want to move very, very quickly once I have the investigator’s report. If there are findings that the investigator comes up with that suggests that they are moving in the right direction, that they need a little bit of help and a bit more time, then we’ll provide that,” he said. “If it suggests that there needs to be a supervisor, then I will move very, very quickly to supervision.”
Calandra says he’s received more correspondence from parents in Ottawa than from any other board in the province.
“It is an overwhelming sense of anger and frustration in that area,” he said.
The Ministry of Education is launching the investigation into the OCDSB’s finances as the board prepares to finalize the Elementary Program Review next month, which includes changes to programs, school structures and boundaries. The proposal would see the school board consolidate elementary school programs into Enhanced English and French Immersion, eliminate Middle French Immersion, close Alternative schools and phase out some special education programs.
Ontario is also launching financial investigations into the Toronto Catholic District School Board and Toronto District School Board.
Under the Education Act, school boards are required to present a balanced budget. School boards can use reserves to balance a budget for a school year.
With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Ted Raymond
