Latest news with #LyraEvans
CBC
28-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Province's takeover of OCDSB, other school boards slammed as 'power grab'
Social Sharing When Education Minister Paul Calandra announced the province would be appointing supervisors to four Ontario school boards — including Ottawa's largest — on Friday, he said it was to ensure that "every decision made by the board prioritizes direct support for students in the classroom." But according to several critics in Ottawa, the appointments won't have that effect. The takeover came out of an investigation into several boards launched earlier in 2025 that projected a fifth straight year of financial deficits at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB). The province has now appointed consultant Robert Plamondon to oversee the board. In a press conference, Calandra said supervisors like Plamondon will look closely at how the boards are run, find savings and make changes needed to restore responsible management. While an initial assessment of the OCDSB's finances predicted another deficit for 2025-26, trustees did approve $18.1 million in cuts earlier this month in order to balance their budget. "The fact that we have passed this balanced budget and the ministry is still trying to take us over, I don't know where they're expecting to find additional savings," said board trustee Lyra Evans. 'Primary problem' is funding In a press release announcing the takeover, the ministry said the four school boards had exhibited "mismanagement and poor decision-making." It said the OCDSB had "completely depleted its reserves, incurred an accumulated deficit, and plans to use unsustainable proceeds from asset sales to balance its books." Calandra also spoke Friday about frustrated parents and noted the recent resignation of two OCDSB trustees. He also said the budgets for the next school year had yet to be reviewed by staff. According to Evans, the school board's "primary problem" is the funding it gets from the province. "There are huge deltas in things that the ministry has not adequately funded us for," she said, listing a gap between government funding and OCDSB spending on special education and on statutory entitlements like employment insurance and the Canadian Pension Plan. While the province continues to boast its "record funding" for education, Ottawa West-Nepean MPP Chandra Pasma says it's actually to blame for any deficits. One recent report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives pegged the provincial funding shortfall to the OCDSB over the last seven years at $338.4 million, while noting its per-student funding has dropped by $560 from the 2018-19 school year and the 2025-26 school year. "If funding had just kept pace since 2018, the Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board and Ottawa-Carleton District School Board would not have [been facing] a deficit this year," said Pasma, the Ontario NDP's education critic. Pasma acknowledged previous instances of financial mismanagement from Ontario school boards, but said there are other ways to deal with misuse of funds that don't amount to an "unmitigated power grab." Need for 'clear, concise rules' on spending Calandra said the appointments were also motivated by how the ministry has "decentralized" decision-making, giving trustees more leeway with budgeting and curriculum choices. "That is where the Ministry of Education has to come back in, to refocus centralized decision making and provide clear, concise rules on how money is to be spent, on what trustees are supposed to be doing, on what boards of education are supposed to be doing," he said. Evans disagreed, saying a supervisor may not understand the needs of different communities. "We have locally elected trustees because it allows us to advocate for our communities and to bring that voice to the district. If we don't have that local voice at the table, then what works in Toronto might not work here," she said. "It's very easy to move in and break things when you have no understanding of why things are the way they are." Plamondon, an author and academic who previously as the interim chair of the National Capital Commission, started in his role as supervisor on Friday.
CBC
29-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
OCDSB mulls budget options in quest to save $20M
Social Sharing Ottawa's largest public school board is mulling ways to find close to $20 million in savings in order to avoid a fifth consecutive deficit, before finalizing its budget next month. At an Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) committee of the whole meeting Wednesday night, chief financial officer Randy Gerrior presented trustees with a range of cost-saving options as the board finds itself in a vulnerable financial position with no reserves. Under the Education Act, school boards in Ontario are required to pass a balanced budget by June 30. Among the potential measures under discussion are cuts to some programs such as adult high school, and reorganizing other programs such as special education. The board is also looking at selling off surplus properties that have been sitting vacant, such as the former McGregor Easson Public School on Dynes Road. The board could also rein in short-term discretionary spending on guest speakers, travel and other expenses not related to the classroom. "I do believe we've identified enough potential reductions [that] we could present a balanced budget to the trustees and we could execute that balanced budget next year and move toward better financial health," Gerrior told CBC. Gerrior warned the board can't be sure it has struck the right balance until this fall's enrolment figures are finalized. Trustee Lyra Evans said she understands the need to make tough decisions, but worried staff would leave trustees no choice but to approve their preferred cuts. Gerrior said it would be unrealistic for trustees to expect "a buffet of options." Financial pressures Among the financial pressures detailed in Gerrior's report is the provincial moratorium on school closures. The OCDSB must maintain more than 17,000 vacant pupil spaces, costing the board nearly $20 million in revenue, according to the report. "The funding formula for the operations of the Facilities Department is based on a per pupil amount, meaning the organization is not properly funded to support the administrative infrastructure and operating costs of under-utilized schools," the report said. Gerrior said during the meeting that even if that moratorium was lifted, the board wouldn't immediately be able to recoup all of that money. Other key pressures include paying supply teachers when permanent staff take sick leave, as well as statutory benefits, inflation, portables classrooms and special education supports. Too few payroll clerks During Wednesday's meeting, Gerrior said the board's administration is not among the areas being considered for cuts, noting the board has "had trouble making payroll a couple of times" due to a lack of clerks. "If you cut more of my finance clerks who work in payroll, I wouldn't be able to meet those obligations [to pay employees]," he told CBC. " We're squeezing as hard as we can, but you know it can't all be administration." At one point, trustee Nili Kaplan-Myrth asked if lowering the temperature in schools could help save money. The board's director of education Pino Buffone said when that was tried in the past, staff brought in their own space heaters, upping energy costs. "So it's not just simple reduction in a degree — it can actually do the reverse effect," he said. Staff will present a budget to trustees on June 10, which Gerrior said would contain more details about proposed reductions. The board is slated to vote on the budget June 23. "We absolutely have a plan, but the trustees do have to be willing to approve that plan. I know some of the recommendations we're going to make are not popular recommendations with the community members or the trustees," Gerrior said.
Ottawa Citizen
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Ottawa Citizen
OCDSB trustees vote to approve boundary changes, phase out alternative schools
In a marathon meeting Tuesday night, trustees at Ottawa's largest school board voted to phase out alternative schools, keep 26 classes for students with special needs and approve controversial boundary changes. Article content Article content Trustees at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board also voted in favour of a motion that would see exemptions allowed for anyone who is eligible and wants one — as long as the program exists, there are spaces available and the exemption does not affect the viability of programs at both the receiving school and the sending school. Article content Article content Reasons for applying for an exemption could include the student's education needs, child care and keeping siblings together in the same school — or even just because it's the family's preference. Exemptions will be decided centrally and not at the local level. Article content Article content 'Now the threshold is much lower,' said trustee Lyra Evans, who proposed the motion. Article content 'I think we will be better off as a district to keep as many people happy as possible.' Article content The families of hundreds of students may be contemplating moving schools in September 2026 as boundaries change and programs are phased out. Parents have been battling against controversial school boundary changes, arguing that the changes would separate siblings and force some students to travel farther when the stated goal of the review was to keep as many students as possible in neighbourhood schools. Article content The decisions made Tuesday night, to be finalized May 13, are the result of an ambitious review of elementary programs at the OCDSB prompted by concerns about inequities in schools as French immersion programs drew students away from community schools, leaving some English-only schools with barely sustainable populations. Article content Article content There has been discussion about how decisions will be made around 'grandparenting' students whose families want to remain at their current school. Article content Article content The decision to adopt Lyra's motion is 'a step in the right direction,' said parent Shannon Worek. 'But it's insufficient to address a lot of concerns that parents have.' Article content But it was a night for celebration for the families of children in specialized program classes. The original proposal included gradually phasing out 26 specialized program classes and returning the students to mainstream classrooms. Article content 'It was a 'yipee' moment,' said Eevee McOuatt, the mother of Silas, 9, who has autism and ADHD. Silas has been a student in the Learning Language Program, which has eight to 10 students and focuses on verbal and reading skills, as well as responding to social cues.
CBC
07-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Trustees vote to keep OCDSB's special needs programs intact
Social Sharing A proposal to phase out several special needs programs offered by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) has been voted down. At a committee of the whole meeting Tuesday night, school board trustees voted against phasing out 26 specialized classes including programs for students with learning disabilities. As a result, the proposal will not go forward when trustees conduct a final vote on a wider elementary program review next week. The school board was proposing to phase out these programs, reallocate the resources to regular classrooms and address the requirements of special needs students there. Speaking to CBC after the meeting, OCDSB director of education Pino Buffone said the vote was "clear direction" from trustees to continue supporting those specialized programs. Under the proposal, 116 other classes in the board's autism spectrum disorder and developmental disabilities programs would have continued. Trustee Lyra Evans was among those who voted against the recommendation to cut the special needs programs. She told CBC it's important for the OCDSB to continue supporting students with special needs. "Special education students are among our highest-need group of students. They are the group that is often least able to advocate on their own behalf and they are the group that is most likely to be struggling at the back of the classroom if there is not adequate support," Evans said. Alternative schools, boundaries to go to a final vote While the proposed changes to specialized classes were nixed, trustees approved three other recommendations as part of the elementary program review, to be discussed further when the board reconvenes next week. Those recommendations including streamlining programs to enhance English and French immersion, as well as changes to school boundaries and grade configurations — steps Buffone called "a huge step forward for the district." The recommendation to phase out the alternative school program, which place less emphasis on grades and focus more on letting students learn at their own pace, was also passed. That came as a disappointment to some parents who watched the meeting from the second floor gallery and applauded when trustees spoke out in defence of the program. Trustee Nili Kaplan-Myrth said she opposed most of the recommendations, including one that would leave a small number of schools with English programming only and no option for French immersion. "I'm against the cuts to special education, I'm against the closure of alternative schools, and I'm strongly against them leaving the most disadvantaged schools without dual-track," she said, referring to schools that offer programs in both languages. "I wanted to be able to look children in the eye and my constituents in the eye and say that we made it better, that we actually addressed disparities that we've acknowledged year after year and decade after decade, and we haven't done that." Parents in OCDSB worried kids with special needs will end up with less support in the classroom 1 month ago Duration 4:32 The Ottawa-Carleton District School board is facing its fifth straight deficit and could cut educational assistants. At the same time, it's making big changes that include phasing out 39 specialized classes. Parent Laura MacKenzie told CBC she plans to continue advocating to keep the OCDSB's alternative school program running. "We believe that alternative programs and alternative schools need to exist for diverse educational choice in Ottawa," she said. Another recommendation to keep students in their current program whenever possible also passed. The recommendations that were passed Tuesday are now set to go for a final vote at special board meeting May 13.
