While it’s still unclear how a provincial plan to amalgamate school boards will impact Northwestern Ontario, a separate school board official says it probably will have an effect.
The province was clear that it would not seek to amalgamate separate and public school boards in the recent Ontario budget. But it does want to get public boards and separate boards to combine with other similar boards in an effort to find savings.
Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board associate director Tom Mustapic said because of how small regional school boards are, there could be some amalgamation in Northwestern Ontario.
“If you listen to what they’re saying they are talking about the smallest boards being amalgamated so we would expect certainly that the north would be impacted in some way,” Mustapic said Thursday morning.
Lakehead Public Schools superintendent of business Kathy Pozihun said it’s too early to tell how the province plans to amalgamate boards. It’s also not clear how Ontario plans to save $116 million over the next three years by closing schools.
The budget states it will “reduce incentives in the funding formula” when a board has underutilized schools. But there will need to be a lot of discussion between the province and boards over the next year as to what that actually means, Pozihun said.
“I think it means different things for different boards based on geography.”
The province is also hoping to save nearly $36 million over the next three years by capping high school credits at 34 to discourage students from taking a fifth year. Pozihun said more information is needed to determine to see if some exemptions might be in that proposal.
Mustapic said the separate board has 80 students in their fifth-year right now but that number would drop if the cap comes in.
Both boards were happy to hear that full-day kindergarten will continue despite a Drummond recommendation to end the program.
“Research has shown that full-day kindergarten contributes to student success,” Pozihun said.
As for the proposed public sector wage freeze, Mustapic said labour disruption is always a concern but doesn’t think it will come to strikes or work stoppages.
“It’s something that you’d prefer not to see but always understand could happen,” he said.
