An audit of the country’s largest school board found almost $1.3 million in unauthorized raises for senior staff since 2010, as well as improper approval of contracts and payments to charities with clear links to trustees or employees.

In June, the province ordered a look at expenses, spending on programs and contracts over the past three years at the request of then acting director Donna Quan, who took the top job at the Toronto District School Board after Chris Spence resigned in disgrace.

Quan, now director, said the Ernst and Young report is a call to action and the board will work with the ministry of education to address all concerns.

“I want to say to you, we recognize clearly the need for higher levels of fiscal responsibility,” she told reporters at board headquarters on Tuesday afternoon, just hours after the 54-page report was released.

“We know that our $3-billion budget is an important budget in terms of student achievement and well-being and every dollar we have must go into the classroom.”

She said the board will come up with an action plan to address all 27 recommendations.

“This is a turning point for the Toronto District School Board, a turning point in the sense that we recognize that our dollars must be spent in a responsible manner . . . we recognize that we must change,” Quan said.

However, on the issue of raises for senior staff, which auditors totalled at $1.29 million, Quan said the board will address that concern, although other boards also gave senior managers salary increases from 2010 on.

The pay raises for senior managers came amid a province-wide freeze on wages for all public sector workers. Education Minister Liz Sandals said her ministry will look into compensation at other boards.

Quan, however, said the Toronto board consulted with other boards and the Council of Ontario Directors of Education, where the raises were deemed legitimate.

Trustee Sheila Cary-Meagher said she welcomed the audit “as it’s always worth having somebody on the outside come and give you a couple of smacks,” though she felt many of the issues raised were procedural and something the board could easily tidy up.

However, she was surprised the ministry did not know about the salary increases.

“If we didn’t have permission to do it, we wouldn’t have done it,” she said. “It’s OK with me if they want to freeze salaries, but if we were not in compliance, how did it happen for three or four years . . .

“Usually if you hiccup they come down on you like a ton of bricks. If there was $1.2 million, why was there no response before this?”

Quan went to the province earlier this year after board audit committee chair Trustee Elizabeth Moyer identified several areas of concern, many of them shared by auditors.

(Moyer later found herself accused of sexually harassing a senior staffer, which she said was in retaliation for being a whistleblower; Quan said Tuesday that an investigation is still ongoing.)

The audit also raises the issue of a “culture of fear” among staff about speaking up when problems arise, something the board has been accused of previously.

Quan said she realizes that “from time to time, there are challenges in terms of raising concerns” but there’s an “open communication policy” and that “a culture change takes time.”

The audit also found that charities and not-for-profits receiving money from the board had links to trustees or employees or their family, but records show no conflict-of-interest declarations were ever made.

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It also scolded trustees for interfering in the day-to-day operations of the board and says their role needs to be more clearly defined.

At Queen’s Park, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the TDSB audit shows a “lack of accountability” on the part of Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals.

Sandals said she wants to see changes at the board.

“I expect the board to take these recommendations seriously and act on them in a timely manner to ensure public dollars are being used efficiently, transparently and responsibly,” said Sandals.

“The ministry will work with the board to finalize a plan early in the new year that will outline how the board will address the concerns raised in the report.”

Sandals said she would also look in to pay hikes at other school boards in Ontario.

Among the concerns in the auditors’ 54-page report:

* Nearly half of a sample of procurement contracts did not use the competitive bidding process required by the board’s own policy, nor did nearly 80 per cent of the transactions conducted by the director of education’s office. The report also found that an earlier forensic audit of board finances did not accurately report all its findings.

* A trustee was reimbursed for a hotel stay in Toronto for a conference. Trustee Shelley Laskin said she believes the expense is legitimate, but if found to be ineligible, she will repay the amount.

* “A trustee requested assistance in circumventing hiring practices,” believed to be Moyer, who asked for help in getting her daughters summer jobs.

* “There were payments to charities and not-for-profit organizations. On numerous occasions, the recipients’ directors or officers included TDSB trustees, TDSB employees and/or family members or close business associates of TDSB trustees or employees.”