The CSSDM still weighed down by a high deficit

The deficit accumulated at the Montreal school service center has decreased, now standing at 59.5 million. Right next door, its neighbor, the Pointe-de-l’Île school service center, on the contrary, displays an accumulated surplus of 107 million.

One after the other, school service centers have been revealing their audited financial results for 2023-2024 for several weeks, which reflect the wealth gaps between each.

The CSSDM has been weighed down for around fifteen years by its accumulated deficit, on which it pays interest and which it must gradually reduce.

The CSSDM reduced it by 18.6 million in 2023-2024. While the accumulated deficit reached 78.1 million in 2022-2023, it was reduced to 59.5 million.

The annual surplus for 2023-2024 amounts to 19 million, out of a budget of 1.5 billion which is notably affected this time by the teachers’ strike, as highlighted by the highlights of the financial statements.

The CSSDM managed to reduce its expenses by 1% (a drop of 22 million).

In the highlights of the 2023-2024 financial year, it is indicated that this reduction in expenditure “is largely explained by the reduction in expenses linked to education and training”.

The CSSDM did not consent to an interview request on these questions.

In writing, Alain Perron, head of media relations at the CSSDM, essentially noted that “thanks to sound and rigorous management”, the CSSDM was able to “respond to the catch-up plan requested by the Quebec Ministry of Education” to help students the day after the strike.

After consulting the highlights and results of the CSSDM, François Dauphin, an accountant by training and president and CEO of the Institute on Governance, observed that “a little more transparency, through more detailed explanations, would have been “betting”.

Over the past year, the budgetary choices of the CSSDM were the subject of reports in particular regarding the abolition of 26 special education classes (in two years) and the elimination in June of a deputy headship at Bedford School. This last case was denounced in October by the Montreal Association of School Directors (AMDES).

It should be noted that it is not easy to see clearly the financial results of other school service centers either. They are most of the time very difficult to find on websites and sometimes they are not even there.

Accumulated deficit and surpluses

Asked about the significant wealth gap between the CSSDM and other school service centers, Bernard Drainville’s office did not answer the question, instead indicating, also in writing, that Quebec spends a lot on education and that “c It is the role of each school service center to manage their budget responsibly”, prioritizing “the well-being, success and safety of our students”.

Kathleen Legault, president of the Montreal Association of School Administrations, notes that each school administration has been called upon to respect its own budgets and that it has been supported in this regard by the CSSDM.

What does dragging an accumulated deficit mean compared to other school service centers that have accumulated surpluses? “For example,” replies M.^me Legault, we could decide to add staff to support us, in schools”, or “fund special projects” or “offer school transportation to more students”.

At the Pointe-de-l’Île school service center, Valérie Biron, director of corporate services, communications and general secretariat, indicates that part of her organization’s cumulative surplus of 107 million has been used in recent times “to redevelop the Antoine-de-Saint-Exupéry Center to accommodate the new Health, Assistance and Nursing (SASI) program and reconfigure spaces for the hairdressing/aesthetics program.”

“We also plan to use the cumulative surplus for the redevelopment of the Calixa-Lavallée Center for the computer graphics program as well as the renovation of the old kitchens to make them more versatile premises. »

It should be noted that school service centers can only use part of their accumulated surplus annually, as pointed out by the communications department of the Patriotes school service center, whose accumulated surplus at the end of the fiscal year was amounted to 43 million.

In 2023-2024, this school service center located on the South Shore explains to us, the accumulated surplus “was used to offset part of the recurring budget deficit during our 2024-2025 budget submission.”