TORONTO - Ontario will consider tougher spending rules for all school trustees, Education Minister Kathleen Wynne said Wednesday after a government report slammed Catholic board trustees in Toronto for spending more than $1 million on everything from personal health benefits and meals to promotional fridge magnets and advertising.
The province has "no patience'' for abuse that undermines public confidence in the education system, Wynne said after the investigation found the Toronto Catholic school board is spending an average of $100,000 per elected official on such things as car allowances, travel, advertising and charity donations.
"The blueprint in this report is an excellent one for boards to eliminate inappropriate reimbursements, inappropriate expenses and the use of public dollars for private advantage,'' Wynne told the legislature Wednesday.
"I think some of the findings of this report have implications across the province. What I want to do is strengthen the oversight and the accountability practices.''
The report, by former bureaucrat Norbert Hartmann, found the Toronto Catholic District School Board spent $1.2 million on trustee expenses -- the highest cost per trustee in the province.
While Toronto Catholic board trustees earn an honorarium of $18,000, they have access to a variety of expense accounts including $3,400 in health benefits, $18,000 in constituency allowance, another $18,000 "discretionary allowance'' and an $8,600 car allowance.
Some trustees were claiming several meals a day, alcohol and other hospitality expenses unrelated to board activity, the investigation found.
Some trustees also spent cash hiring relatives or people living at the same address, Hartmann said. Some $84,000 was spent on promotional materials including fridge magnets, engraved pens, embossed track suits, golf shirts, hats, water bottles and tote bags, he said.
"Since boards are their own approving authority for expenses, the ministry should investigate additional ways of improving oversight and transparency,'' wrote Hartmann, adding boards could be forced to submit their annual expenses with the province.
Catherine LeBlanc-Miller, chair of the Toronto Catholic school board, said the mounting expenses "didn't happen overnight.'' In some cases, she said trustees weren't following the board's policy with proper documentation backing up expenses.
Money spent on expenses is a small portion of the board's budget but LeBlanc-Miller said that's not the point.
"It's really more about public confidence,'' said LeBlanc-Miller, who recently repaid taxpayers after billing for car allowances and cab rides. "It's certainly not something we're proud of.''
One trustee, Christine Nunziata, was dismissed from the board in February after coming under fire for expensing cellphone bills and bills from her 2004 honeymoon.
The board will be discussing the report's recommendations in the coming days and will be reporting back to the province at Wynne's request, LeBlanc-Miller said.
But there is a lesson here for all Ontario school boards, she said.
"It would benefit all boards to have a look at their own policies in light of this report,'' she said.
Opposition Leader Bob Runciman said the Liberals can't afford to leave the squandering of taxpayer dollars to individual boards. At a time when boards are closing schools to save money, Runciman said the province should investigate the use of trustee expense accounts at all Ontario boards.
"Clearly they've opened the bank vault here by sending out all the wrong signals,'' Runciman said. "Given the challenges facing education, people have to be more cognizant of how they spend those monies.''
NDP Leader Howard Hampton said the report is simply more proof that the province's current funding formula doesn't work. He said schools aren't getting adequate funding for anything from rising hydro costs to administration, causing them to borrow money from other areas.
"The funding formula that we have doesn't have an envelope for these kinds of expenses,'' he said. "That's wrong.''
