The Quebec government is “leveling down” by slashing funding for maintaining the province’s schools, opposition parties in the National Assembly lament. A decision that could cost the state dearly in the coming years, in addition to undermining the daily lives of students at the start of the next school year, they fear.
After increasing its investments in recent years to address the backlog in the maintenance of the province’s schools, the Quebec government has this year reduced by $409.2 million the overall envelope allocated to the maintenance of school buildings in 2024-2025 compared to the amount granted for this purpose by the State last year.
This information, revealed by The duty Wednesday morning, made two elected officials from the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) and Quebec Solidaire (QS) jump, those responsible for education issues within their political party.
In an interview, PLQ MP Madwa-Nika Cadet recalled that the Quebec government had made education and health its “priorities” in its last budget, presented last March. However, “what we see is that the CAQ underestimated the state of dilapidation of schools [Coalition avenir Québec] continues,” denounces the liberal elected official.
“It’s a completely incomprehensible decision, and it shows that it’s not true that education is a priority for the CAQ,” QS MP Ruba Ghazal said in an interview.
Following methodological changes, the government increased by 5% the share of school buildings that are considered to be in good condition in Quebec, which increased from 39% to 44% this year. However, in 2019, the government was aiming for half of the buildings in the network to be considered in good condition by 2023, before revising this target downward last year.
The Ministry of Education has now set itself the objective of having 40% of the network’s buildings in a condition deemed satisfactory this year.
“So, instead of resolving the situation and putting in enough money to resolve this asset maintenance deficit, we are reducing the target,” says Mr.me Ghazal, offended. However, “this is not how we solve the problem”, at a time when the problems of dilapidated state of our schools regularly make headlines, she recalls.
“The government is leveling down. It’s a bit of an admission of failure in its own ability to deliver the goods,” says Mr.me Cadet. “In the meantime, there are real students, in real schools, who will have to learn in conditions that are not entirely interesting,” adds the elected official, according to whom Quebec should “at the very least” reduce to 50% its target of school buildings that must be in satisfactory condition, in addition to increasing the funding it grants for this purpose.
This decision is inconsistent with the dilapidated state of the schools. The asset maintenance budget should be increased, not reduced. @BDrainvilleQc must reverse its decision if education is truly a priority for the CAQ. #polqc https://t.co/6eGsGVUQ77?
— Ruba Ghazal (@RubaGhazalQS) July 10, 2024
More expensive in the long term
This 22% drop in funding for school maintenance in one year could also lead to the suspension of renovation work, as well as the layoff of specialized employees in school service centers, such as architects and engineers, reported The duty Wednesday.
“This is not good news, neither for school management nor for students, who will have to continue to evolve in these conditions,” laments, worried, M.me Cadet. A concern shared by Ruba Ghazal.
“This is not the time to cut the budget to reduce the asset maintenance deficit,” emphasizes the solidarity MP. On the contrary, “we need to take a step back, because these cuts will have impacts over time” by increasing the bill for work to be done in the province’s schools according to inflation, she notes. Currently, the deficit in maintaining real estate assets in the school network is estimated at nearly $8.5 billion by the State. “The needs are glaring,” notes Mme Ghazal.
On Tuesday, in response, the office of the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, argued that his government had significantly increased the budget in recent years, notably for the renovation of buildings, but also for the construction of new schools. However, “the majority of students who are currently in our schools, they do not go to these establishments,” replied Madwa-Nika Cadet.
The Minister of Education also argued that despite the drop this year of more than $400 million in money invested in the fight against the school maintenance deficit, “the annual average over 10 years” of funding allocated for this purpose “continues to increase.”