Marois, school boards to meet

Sides seek to settle tax dispute within 15 days

Premier Pauline Marois and Quebec’s school board federations are to meet within 15 days in a bid to settle their dispute over increased school taxes.

Before that meeting, Marois will provide the boards with key government statistical reports that pertain to board finances, David D’Aoust, president of the Quebec English School Boards Association, said Monday.

The school boards have been sparring with the Parti Québécois government over how to implement budget cuts.

“They have talked about (the reports), but (government officials) never gave us copies of them,” said D’Aoust, whose association represents the two English school boards on the island and six in the rest of Quebec.

The reports pertain to the boards’ budgets, revenues and the like, said D’Aoust, adding that the government has made repeated reference to some of those figures but never shared the reports with the board associations.

Once the associations have a chance to review those documents, “hopefully, we will try to find some form of solution to resolve this” dispute, D’Aoust said.

Monday’s 90-minute meeting started with an exchange of “our differences of opinions” on a dispute that has been brewing for months, he said.

“What was going to be a very negative meeting, and even started out as very negative, turned out to be a little more positive, but I have my guard up as usual,” he said.

In a statement issued after the meeting, Marois and Education

“I told (Pauline Marois). We are not tax collectors.” QUEBEC ENGLISH SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT DAVID D’AOUST

Minister Marie Malavoy suggested that “in the medium term” they would be open to reviewing how schools boards are funded.

In February, the PQ government announced it would be cutting $65 million in subsidies to school boards, subsidies intended to forestall huge hikes in school taxes.

A further $150 million had been cut from public education funding in the last budget, bringing the total cuts over three years to more than $500 million.

Malavoy could not be reached for comment by The Gazette.

When announcing the cuts in February, Malavoy gave the boards the choice on how they would make up for the cuts without prejudicing the quality and accessibility of education: either increase revenue or decrease expenditures.

In July, the cash-strapped boards announced school tax increases of as much as 30 per cent in some areas.

As taxpayers protested, Marois took public aim at the boards.

“I am so disappointed in the way the school boards have acted,” Marois told the TVA network earlier this month, apparently surprised by the tax increases. “We have a little meeting, the school boards and I, and we will have a little discussion on this issue. Citizens are right to be unhappy.”

On Monday, D’Aoust again characterized Marois’s comment as “unjust.” School boards had “little or no choice,” he said.

During Monday’s meeting, “I told her our job is to make sure we offer quality educational services to our students. We are not tax collectors.”

For their part, Marois and Malavoy expect the boards to “review the options available to them,” their statement said.

D’Aoust said the meeting ended with a pledge that the school boards and government would “try to work as partners” and discussions could go beyond matters pertaining to taxes.

He declined to elaborate.