Ottawa Catholic School Board expecting enrolment spike as OCDSB looks to cut 83 teachers

While Ottawa’s English public school board is expecting an enrolment decrease, the Catholic board is projecting an increase. CTV’s Leah Larocque reports.

While Ottawa’s English Public school board is preparing to cut 83 teaching positions next school year due to declining enrolment, the Catholic school board is anticipating a 2.7 per cent increase in students in the fall.

A report for Tuesday’s Ottawa Catholic School Board trustee meeting shows enrolment is projected to increase 1,433 students by the end of October compared to this school year.

Staff are projecting 36,492 elementary school students this fall, up from 35,636 students during the 2025-26 school year and 34,600 elementary students during the 2024-25 school year. The Catholic board is projecting 17,296 students enrolled in secondary schools at the end of October, up from 16,719 students for the 2025-26 school year and 15,847 students during 2024-25.

For secondary schools, All Saints High School is projecting a 16.5 per cent increase in students, while St. Isabel Catholic Elementary School will see a 13 per cent jump in students, and enrolment will increase 12 per cent at Assumption School, St. Philip, St. Veronica and St. Gianna schools.

The report for trustees does not say why the Ottawa Catholic School Board is anticipating an increase in enrolment next school year.

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) says it will need to cut 83 teacher positions and two principal and vice-principal positions next school year due to declining enrolment.

A report for the Audit Committee meeting Tuesday night shows elementary school enrolment is expected to drop by 766 students to 49,185 students, while secondary enrolment will drop by 938 students to 25,949 students in September.

Staff say the decline in elementary school enrolment is due to several factors, including “a decrease in birth rates, parents opting to keep kindergarten-aged children at home, fewer international students attending our schools, and a decline in immigration.”

The decline in secondary school students is mainly attributed to the transitioning of 600 students over the age of 21 to the Continuing Education Day School Model. Smaller student cohorts, fewer international students and a decline in immigration are also contributing factors to declining enrolment in secondary schools, according to the OCDSB.

The report shows the board will see a reduction in 83.29 full-time equivalent teacher positions next school year.

“The number of teachers required for the coming school year is directly affected by projected student enrolment. Consequently, declining enrolment results in fewer teachers across the system,” staff said.

“This reduction is expected to be fully absorbed within normal attrition rates resulting from retirements, resignations and leaves.”

The board says the principal and vice-principal roles to be cut are central board office system positions.

Teacher, principal and vice-principal salaries will represent 53 per cent of the $1.26 billion OCDSB operating budget for the 2026-27 school year. The OCDSB is projected to have 3,106 elementary teacher positions and 1,686 secondary school teachers next school year.

The report, submitted by Director of Education Stacey Kay and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Gardner, notes the OCDSB has taken a “more conservative approach to projecting enrolment” for the 2026-27 school year after the board overestimated student enrolment in prior years and “caused issues around staffing and required disruptive school reorganizations in the fall.”

“Failure to meet enrolment projections poses a financial and operational risk to the organization. Over-projections necessitate school reorganization and the reduction of teaching staff in the fall,” the report said.

“The District aims to minimize changes to classrooms and courses after the school year begins, as school reorganizations disrupt student learning. Furthermore, maintaining classroom staff not funded by provincial grants is not financially feasible, as the District has no budget flexibility in this area.”

The report notes declining enrolment also “exacerbates the existing financial pressure associated with available pupil spaces in schools, which is estimated at 16,000 spaces in 2025-26.”

Newcomers increasingly choosing Catholic board

Mary Donaghy, director of education and the secretary-treasurer for the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB), says the increase in funding “is excellent news” for the board.

“For us, it’s not a surprise. We’ve had increased enrollment for the last number of years and it’s multifaceted.”

Donaghy says one of the reasons she thinks that enrollment keeps increasing is that newcomers to Ottawa are choosing the Catholic school board.

“We’re also seeing some immigration to Ottawa from other cities in the province and from other provinces in Canada, and again, those families are choosing us. They’re happy with what they see. They like our sense of community and a faith-filled environment. They like our strong academics. They like our programs, some of our specialized programs.”

Donaghy says the increase enrollment will likely lead to staff hirings.

“We’re just in the staffing process now. Enrollment doesn’t increase equally in every area of the city. So, some areas are growing at a faster rate. We might actually have teachers that are surplus to one school, but we have a whole process where they can pick up a job at another school in a growing area,” she said.

“Once that process is all settled, as we do in every year, we’ll look at how many vacancies we totally have, and then those will be new teaching jobs.”

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Leah Larocque

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