Top officials at the Toronto District School Board say they know they need to tackle many of the harsh criticisms — from lack of accountability to overspending — contained in a sweeping review of its operations that was released Thursday, and they claim 12 of the 23 proposed changes are already in the works.

Both Director of Education Chris Spence and Board Chair Chris Bolton said they are willing to address many of consulting firm PwC’s recommendations for change that touch almost every level of Canada’s largest school board, from more “checks and balances” at the senior level to tighter rules for repairs and purchasing.

“I’m the director and the buck stops with me — we know there’s room for improvement and we’ll address many (of the suggestions) head-on,” said Spence Thursday night after trustees got their first detailed look at the 70-page review designed to help them find another $10 million in savings. The report, by PwC, formerly PricewaterhouseCoopers, was paid for by Queen’s Park, which is urging trustees to accept a team of advisers to help find ways to put some of the changes into action.

While some recommendations would involve tricky union contracts, such as a call to outsource security, grounds and construction staff and cut 175 caretakers and 75 maintenance jobs, other recommendations like tighter control over repairs already are in the works, said Spence.

In all, the report proposed between $50 million and $92 million in savings over the next two years by everything from closing 10 to 15 schools to cracking down on maintenance staff that do too little “wrench time” at too much cost.

Spence said the board already is moving on 12 of the suggestions, from reducing its fleet of vehicles to moving to less costly modular units for new classrooms and adopting a new “charter” of accountability for building projects.

Spence said he also believes trustees may be more open to the call to close schools, some of which the report said are less than 25 per cent full. He said staff will propose a next round of neighbourhoods for possible school closures in the new year.

Bolton agreed “there are parts of the report we’re already working on and some other things we can do and some we will work on over period of time.”

The report stands at the heart of a power struggle between trustees and Education Minister Laurel Broten, who slapped a freeze last month on funding for any new building projects because of her concerns about cost overruns.

She has not ruled out sending a supervisor in to seize the financial reins if trustees refuse to curb costs.

In a move some see as a dress rehearsal for a supervisor, Broten offered the board a free team of advisers this week to help scour the PwC report for ways to cut spending and generate revenue.

By late Thursday, Broten said she still was waiting for an official response from the board, although Bolton has told media trustees need more time to analyze the offer before Spence will call for outside help.

“But we know there’s good value to having support from outside to help us focus,” Bolton said Thursday night, after a 90-minute briefing with PwC staff, “but it has to be at the invitation of the director.”

Some of the document’s most gritty criticism echo concerns raised by a series of Star investigations about inflated costs for repair and maintenance.

“Unionized maintenance is operating well below capacity and productive ‘wrench time’ is a small portion of time spent overall,” noted the report. “Of the maintenance work orders that were budgeted, 39 per cent exceeded the budgeted amount.”

Spence said many of these concerns already are being tackled, but admitted the report is “tough medicine, and we need to move forward.

“We will absolutely reach out for assistance; we’re just requesting a little more time to analyze the report. Once that’s done we’ll be the first to call the ministry.”

Trustee Cathy Dandy also agreed “this report is just a deeper look at what we know needs to be done, and a good chunk of those recommendations have already been done.”

Vice-chair Shaun Chen noted it was the board that asked for the outside review to help find ways to cut a final $10 million to balance the budget, but the report produced a far broader snapshot of problems and suggested measures that could make more lasting savings.

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Said Chen, “we’re ready to work with all our stakeholders but we need time — the ink is barely dry.”

However Trustee Howard Goodman warned that this sort of review overlooks the impact on students. He also said suggestions that senior administration could be trimmed may be impractical, “as our central administration costs already are less than that of any large multi-location organization ... and has been trimmed repeatedly for years.”

He also warned that a suggestion to reduce partnerships with other organizations could mean severing valuable ties with groups such as the Pathways to Education mentorship program, charitable groups such as “Me to We” or even teaching faculties.