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Photo by Dan Janisse / Windsor Star

Renaud emphasized that “Catholic schools would stay open. It is not part of this plan to shut down schools. It’s not about Catholic education, it’s not about Catholic schools, it’s about putting students first.”

Photo by Dan Janisse / Windsor Star

“The suggestion by Mr. Renaud that he is not proposing the closure of Catholic schools is completely disingenuous,” said Barb Holland, chairperson for the Catholic school board trustees, in a statement. “For him to bring this issue up in the media three weeks before the election is absurd and opportunistic.”

Kim McKinley, who chairs the public board’s trustees, did not wish to comment on the issue.

“It will all get worked out,” she said.

Halberstadt and Renaud want the savings from eliminating duplication in administration and marketing plowed back into the classroom and in particular, into programming for special needs students “which always seems to be underfunded,” Halberstadt said.

Renaud, who worked on Halberstadt’s campaign for city council a number of years ago, said courses in Catholic faith could be offered as an option in a new merged system.

A shared media release stated that merging the two English language boards would save over $6 million annually. Renaud said that figure came straight from the Catholic school board’s budget for administration.

Halberstadt said a province-wide merger would result in an estimated $1.5 billion in savings.

“I think there needs to be a groundswell of people to get the politicians to listen at Queen’s Park,” Halberstadt said. “Doug Ford seems to enjoy efficiencies and audits, let’s have the provincial government do an audit to find out what the actual costs are. I think we need the strength of the province to say this is what we’re going to do. It’s not going to happen overnight but I think it’s eventually going to happen.”