It is the return of austerity in education, school management note. Services for students such as food assistance, the purchase of library books and cultural outings will pay the price for the rigor in the school network.
“We are returning to austerity, that is clearly it and it is not [que] the beginning in my opinion,” underlines Nicolas Prévost, president of the Fédération québécoise des directions d’establishment d’enseignement (FQDE).
Announced on the eve of the holiday break, the $200 million cuts for the current year imposed by the Legault government in education are beginning to materialize on the ground.
The financial effort to replenish state coffers should not affect children’s services. But the message does not seem clear to everyone.
Certain school service centers (CSS) have decided to restrict cultural outings to cinemas and performance halls, reports Nicolas Prévost, who represents 2,400 school principals spread across the four corners of the province with the exception of the island of Montreal.
“I also heard about cuts […] in terms of food aid, in the purchase of library books, in the purchase of books in class too,” he insists.
He deplores that some CSS impose unilateral cuts, without consultation with school directors. When we give them the latitude to do so, managements are in the best position to know where it is possible to cut sums of money without repercussions on schoolchildren, he argues.
Forced vacation
In mainland France, cuts take different forms from one CSS to another. In certain schools, executives will have to resign themselves to emptying their vacation bank before the March 31 deadline, says Kathleen Legault, president of the Montreal Association of School Directors. “Vacation has a monetary value,” she explains.
Projects to renovate or expand schools will also go by the wayside. The roof of a multi-purpose school needed to be redone? We won’t do it this year.
-“Also, we are going to ask schools to spend less, for example, on desks and chairs, while trying to see if we cannot keep our dictionaries for another year,” deplores M.me Legault. It reminds us of the years of austerity.”
Staff shortage helps
Ironically, the staff shortage also gives a boost to CSSs who are looking for ways to reduce their expenses.
This is at least the case at the CSS de la Côte-du-Sud, in Chaudière-Appalaches, where the sums that were not spent due to non-replacements represent 60% of the shortfall imposed by Quebec.
“For once, the staff shortage is helping us. We are so short of manpower that we can cover a good part of the effort required just with that,” says its general director, Rachel Bégin.
When a support employee or professional is absent from a school, the CSS now asks the teams in place to assess how their tasks can be distributed before requesting a replacement.
Employee participation in professional development conferences has also been canceled if the amounts required exceed the amounts agreed in the collective agreements.
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