Elected officials from the three main opposition parties in Quebec City were outraged to learn Thursday that tens of millions of dollars initially spent on direct services to students, such as food assistance and tutoring, are being funneled back into government coffers each year to fund its various priorities. They are calling for a change of direction so that “every dollar” allocated to help students succeed in school is spent on that purpose.
“We are cutting food aid to perhaps put it into other projects like the Kings [de Los Angeles] or something else. This is unacceptable,” said Ruba Ghazal, spokesperson for Québec solidaire (QS) on education, on Thursday morning. This money was “intended for students and it makes no sense that students cannot benefit from it,” she continued.
The elected official reacted in this way, during a press briefing at the National Assembly, to an investigation published this morning in The Duty. This reported tens of millions of dollars allocated by Quebec for various protected measures that return to the state’s consolidated fund each year. These are colossal sums that schools in the province are unable to spend annually on various initiatives, including food aid, tutoring and cultural outings.
Noting that there is no guarantee that these amounts returned to the government will then be reinvested in education, QS tabled a motion in the Salon Bleu on Thursday to ask the government to “allow all unused sums to be reinvested in education.” [pour financer des mesures protégées] can be reallocated to meet the urgent and priority needs of schools.”
The Coalition avenir Québec refused to debate this motion.
We are cutting food aid to perhaps put it into other projects like the Kings [de Los Angeles] or something else. This is unacceptable.
Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy was particularly shocked to see that several school service centres have been unable to spend a significant portion of the funds at their disposal in recent years to provide food aid to children in need. “Is it because we have not been able to distribute this food aid?” asked the opposition education critic.
“If that’s the case, it’s extremely unacceptable,” the elected official continued. According to her, Quebec must ensure that “administrative mazes” do not prevent schools from being able to “feed children properly or give them help with homework, especially when we see that academic results are not up to par.”
“The CAQ came to power saying that it was going to remove structures, put in less bureaucracy, and then all we see is that there is more bureaucracy everywhere, even more school bureaucracy. And that is harming students,” also hammered home Ruba Ghazal.
The elected representative in solidarity thus echoed the comments collected by The Duty with associations of school principals, who deplored the rigidity of the operation of protected measures to explain the inability of schools to spend all the sums attached to them. A school that is not able to spend all the protected funds it has on cultural outings, for example, cannot allocate this money to other needs.
“I don’t want to get into a logic where I tell school service centres: ‘You can do whatever you want with the money for food aid or tutoring.’ Because if we do that, they’re really going to be tempted to take the money and put it elsewhere,” Education Minister Bernard Drainville replied on Thursday. He is thus keen to preserve the concept of protected measures, which have existed in the school network since 2015.
“And I remind you that education funds have increased by 50% over the past six years. So, it’s not as if the money we send to the consolidated fund is not used to increase budgets for education, health or services to citizens,” continued Mr. Drainville.
The latter also assured that he was open to “introducing more flexibility” in the operation of protected measures so that the money that would not have been spent for this purpose during the year could “go elsewhere” in schools. “We are working on that,” he said.
We must act quickly, argues the PQ
The Parti Québécois’ education critic, Pascal Bérubé, was also surprised to learn that all of the funds intended for direct services to students are not being spent, even though “the needs are glaring everywhere” in schools, which are also struggling with major maintenance problems.
“Schools have a lot of requests. Often, it is the teachers who pay out of their own pockets for children, whether it is meals or school supplies. Are we able to settle this in 24 hours and ensure that the money stays in the schools?” he said.
He urged the Minister of Education to get to work on this issue quickly. “I would like to learn that we have found a solution within the next 24 hours, if possible. With determination, I think we can get there.”
With François Carabin and Isabelle Porter
