The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has passed a $2.6-billion operating budget, voting to keep as many school services as possible while deferring $30 million in planned maintenance and renewal on buildings.
On Wednesday, May 26 trustees debated the finer points of finances for more than three hours to determine the best way to make up for a $42-million deficit. Deep cuts to discretionary costs and lists of potentially expendable programs were also considered, but deferring repairs on schools was deemed to be the least detrimental to students.This adds to a $2.8-billion backlog of renewal projects at the TDSB. Many trustees were concerned about how delaying the repairs of roofs, stairwells and masonry would affect the safety of students."I've heard consistently that ongoing deferral is a risk for our children," said Scarborough-Agincourt Trustee Soo Wong.Other trustees were unclear on how the board would be able to deal with a backlog in a single area that is larger than the entire operating budget. Scarborough-Rouge River Trustee Shaun Chen put the blame on the provincial funding formula. He thought continuing to defer repairs and to close schools wasn't the ideal way deal with the board's financial woes."We are going to need to close dozens and dozens of schools to make this problem go away," said Chen. "We are going down the wrong path. The problem is systemic underfunding of our education system...we could sit here all June debating, but the problem will not go away."His comments drew applause from his peers, but the province has not changed its formula despite multiple requests in the past. Meanwhile, the board plans to vote on multiple school closures in coming months.Facility maintenance and renewal took a hit, but as a result many programs escaped unscathed. Busing for French immersion schools, cuts to computer purchases, weekend international language classes, general school budgets and teaching staff narrowly escaped major cuts.Another option was presented to reduce discretionary funding budgets by nine per cent, but the board's financial staff claimed this would essentially cripple departments like caretaking, outdoor education and other critical programming.Eglinton-Lawrence Trustee Howard Goodman remarked that while these budgets are referred to as discretionary, that only means they are "not legally required, but are functionally required."As a stipulation of the final budget, staff has been asked to evaluate the $324-million discretionary budget and recommend areas where money could be saved in the future.Trustees Josh Matlow (St. Paul's) and Irene Atkinson (Parkdale-High Park) saw this as a cash cow where a great deal of money is spent in ways that are far from transparent.Matlow said it is his understanding that large discretionary budgets for things like textbooks and instructional supplies are really "code words" for money spent on other staff expenses.A new initiative passed in the budget is a $1-million increase in solar panel investments. However, occasional teachers, community use of schools and educational assistants had their funding trimmed.