Quebec school officials alarmed by $570M budget cut

Education officials in the province were left reeling by the $570-million budget cut announced last week by the CAQ government.

This comes on top of a $200 million cut announced in December.

Joe Ortona, the president of the Quebec English School Board Association, called the decision “shameful” and said the impact on services would be devastating.

“Nobody knows where to cut, because all of these services are essential. In the end, some are going to have to make choices between serving breakfast meals and having tutors for kids who are failing classes,” Ortona told CTV News.

“I don’t think anybody here is in a good situation, even in the French sector, they’re not speaking out publicly, but privately, they’re saying this is impossible. In some boards, they’re being asked to cut almost $100 million — it is absolutely impossible what this government is asking to do without affecting services to kids.”

Education Minister Bernard Drainville is asking English school boards and French-language service centres to cut $510.8 million from the 2025-2026 fiscal year, and an additional $56.9 million from the private schools – for a total of $567.7 million.

Judith Kelley, Chair of the Council of Commissioners at the Lester B. Pearson School Board, said schools are scrambling because budget allocations have already been approved.

She said her school board is looking at a $32 million cut from its $400 million budget, but there is no flexibility on things like staff pay.

“We have to start looking at difficult decisions,” she said.

“The minister will say ‘You won’t need to cut in classrooms, you won’t need to do anything that will affect students,’ but yes students will be affected.”

For example, special education, sports, and arts programs may be affected.

“I just don’t think we can do what we’re being asked to do,” said Kelley.

During a scrum on Wednesday, Drainville argued that since 2018, the education budget has grown by seven per cent each year. He added that while this year’s increase is just five per cent, the overall budget is still rising by $1 billion.

“What I told the service centres [and school board] is that they need to manage their existing funds more effectively: to be more efficient, to respect the budget without cutting services for students or at the very least to keep it to a minimum,” Drainville explained, adding that a seven per cent increase is unsustainable.

“I acknowledge that it will take a lot of work. I am asking for everyone to make an effort. There will be difficult decision to be made. But after a 58 per cent increase of the education budget, I think the time has come to consolidate and make better use of the funding that has been allocated.”

Ortona rejected Drainville’s claim that school boards and service centres simply need to manage their funding better, pointing to the SAAQclic and Northvolt scandals as examples of government mismanagement.

“Essentially, they’re asking children to sacrifice their education and their future and their success for the mistakes of this government, I just think that that’s indecent on their part. They should be ashamed that that’s where they’re resorting to,” Ortona said.

“They have adopted an education model now that absolutely allows them to get away with doing these kinds of things, because nobody in the French system is able to speak out. They have no elected officials that represent them. Everybody is accountable to and answers to the Ministry of Education and the government of Quebec.”

When asked about the salary increases in collective agreements signed over the last few months, Ortona said he expected teaching and support staff positions to be cut.

“The government is washing their hands of it. All they’re saying is, ‘Well, if you face grievances because you’ve abolished positions that you’ve promised to the unions, that’s your responsibility, and you’re going to have to deal with that.’ Again, a complete mismanagement of education,” he said.

The president said that boards and associations would be working through the summer, crushing numbers and trying to make everything fit.

In recent days, several service centres have also decried the new round of budget cuts.