Local MPP Steve Clark is “concerned” about the impact of the public school board’s recent budget cuts, but the board’s chairman says there is little else to be done.

In an open letter to Upper Canada District School Board Chairman John McAllister, published in Thursday’s Recorder and Times, Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes MPP Steve Clark urged McAllister to conduct a third-party review of the board’s operations, with the help of the government.

“Despite the record level of funding the Upper Canada board will receive for the 2019/20 school year, I’m concerned about the impact your recently approved budget will have on students in the classroom,” writes Clark, who is also municipal affairs minister in the Ford government.

“Like all parents, as MPP for Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, I expect the needs of students in our local schools and the front-line staff who are so dedicated to supporting them to be the priority of your board when it comes to setting a budget.”

Clark was not available for direct comment Thursday. When asked about any specific impacts prompting Clark’s concerns, staff at his constituency office referred to another letter to the editor, published Tuesday, by Education Minister Stephen Lecce, in which he states the government’s “overall mission is student achievement.”

“Students should not have to suffer because of poor administrative decisions by school boards,” that letter continues. “While school boards make their own decisions on staffing, class offerings and resource allocation, we do expect them to put the urgent needs of students first. That includes mental health supports in the classroom.”

Clark, meanwhile, urges McAllister to take advantage of the government’s new “Audit and Accountability Fund,” through which school boards can get a third party to “conduct a line-by-line review of operations and service delivery.

“The goal of these reviews is to find administrative savings and identify operational efficiencies to ensure every dollar possible is going to support students in the classroom,” adds Clark.

Clark’s letter came on the same day the public board was criticized by the Canadian Union of Public Employees. CUPE Local 5678 on Wednesday released what it called its “conclusive tabulation” of cuts at the public board, referring to “the final disturbing picture of cuts” that will affect students in the coming school year.

In June, the board approved a $362-million budget with $11.7 million of cuts to cover a shortfall in provincial government funding. Board officials said the cuts include staff reductions totalling 160 jobs, while this week the Canadian Union of Public Employees said the impact on that union’s membership alone is a loss of 140 full-time-equivalent (FTE) jobs, affecting a total of 177 education workers.

Clark’s letter notes the government increased the public board’s funding to more than $342 million, “the largest amount the board has ever received from the provincial government,” but McAllister argues that revenue is offset by losses elsewhere.

McAllister on Thursday said he did not have all the details on the matter of the audit fund, adding he will address that issue, along with “various pieces of correspondence” about it, early next week.

On the matter of the budget, the chairman reiterated that the board took what it considered the only reasonable course of action.

“We don’t do this for fun,” said McAllister.

“The budget was necessary. We have an obligation to have a balanced budget.”

The budget, he added, includes a “necessary overexpenditure in the area of speical education.”

McAllister added the school board was “hamstrung” by an arbitrator’s ruling last fall awarding school bus owners $9.5 million over several years from Student Transportation of Eastern Ontario (STEO) for transporting the board’s students.

The unexpected hit forced the board to deplete its reserves, he added.

“That left us with little room to manoeuvre,” said McAllister.

The board has been trying for the better part of a year to negotiate an arrangement to get help from the province on that large financial hit.

“The fact of the matter is it was totally our of our control and it was caused by the government,” the chairman said, adding it was caused by the previous Liberal provincial government.

“We have yet to receive an answer.”