Fog lifting on hefty income increases for London-area school board brass

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Some answers are in, but questions are still swirling about hefty increases in income paid out by the two big London-area school boards – both, running budget deficits – to some senior brass last year.

At the Thames Valley District school board, payments to 17 senior leaders and superintendents rose by double-digit percentage amounts in 2023 compared to the year before, figures published under Ontario’s public-sector salary disclosure law show.

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The increases ranged from 12 per cent to 33 per cent, and included a 15-per-cent increase for the board’s education director, Mark Fisher, whose $326,000 income last year was the highest of any education director in Ontario’s four largest school boards.

“It is questionable as to how the director’s income has increased so much in such a short period of time – it raises a lot of questions that people would like to know,” said Mary Henry, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 4222, that represents nearly 2,000 Thames Valley education workers, including education assistants and other support staff.

Both the Thames Valley board and the London District Catholic school board are running in the red, with the public board considering job cuts and even closing schools as it tries to further reduce a budget shortfall it has blamed largely on higher federal pension and employment insurance and sick leave costs, for which it says the province has provided no extra funding.

The extra money paid to senior staff has both drawn flak from unions, especially given the board’s financial straits, and provoked questions about what accounts for the extra, which the provincial income disclosures do not break down.

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Neither the board nor the Education Ministry has responded to questions seeking that kind of detail, but a Thames Valley spokesperson provided some clarity about Fisher’s income last year by saying it reflects, in part, “payouts of unused vacation from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“The salary is aligned with contractual obligations,” the spokesperson said. “The director’s salary for the following year will represent a decrease from the current publicly available salary.”

The board didn’t say how much Fisher’s vacation payout amounted to.

Under its salary disclosure law, Ontario requires all public-sector employers in the province to publicly report the income and taxable benefits of employees paid $100,000 or more. That list, colloquially known as the Sunshine List, shows one figure for income and another for taxable benefits.

The income figure can include amounts beyond basic pay – from overtime, to cashed-in leave and vacation payouts – that are not broken out in the number.

Fisher’s income rose rose by $43,000 in 2023, up from $283,000 in 2022.

The head of the elementary teachers’ union local in Thames Valley decried what he called “a huge bloat” in senior administration staffing levels in recent decades, and pointed a finger at that bottom line for a board now battling red ink.

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“That’s where there is a lot money,” said Craig Smith, president of the Thames Valley district of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario.

“Given the budget situation, it’s not sustainable,” he said. “In a time of austerity, you need to lead by example.”

The amounts paid to 10 senior staff at the London District Catholic school board last year rose by more than 10 per cent and, in some cases, up to 40 per cent.

The increases are a result of “a rapid rise in enrollment,” said Mark Adkinson, a spokesperson for the board.

Education director Vince Romeo’s income rose from $200,000 in 2022 to $276,073 in 2023 a 38-per-cent increase.

But Romeo’s actual salary is $257,000 and is frozen at that level, Adkinson said, adding “2023 salaries included retroactive pay, so they are higher than what will be reported for 2024.”

The Catholic school board, the fastest-growing separate school board in Ontario, is running a budget deficit of $1.3 million.

“The larger and more complex the organization is, the higher the level it is at and there is also a higher compensation level for certain positions,” Adkinson said.

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The Catholic board moved up “a level” last year due its rapid rise in student enrollment, with nearly 10,000 more students over the past decade as well as a resulting corporate restructuring, Adkinson said.

“This resulted in a one-time adjustment in compensation for a number of positions,” he said. “The Ministry of Education was informed about the change in levels.”

Salaries paid to school board superintendents and education directors are negotiated locally in Ontario, a source with knowledge of how the system works told The Free Press. It could be that representatives of those kinds of senior education administrators have pressured the province to increase funding for those positions, the source said.

Earlier this year, Ontario’s highest court upheld a lower court ruling that declared the provincial government’s wage-cap law – enacted in 2019, to help whip a budget deficit – as unconstitutional.  Bill 124, as it was known, limited pay increases to one per cent a year for three years for workers in the public sector including education workers

The court ruling found the law was unconstitutional for unionized workers, unjustifiably infringing on their bargaining rights. The government said it would both repeal the law and exempt non-unionized workers from it until the legislation is repealed.

Thames Valley trustees are expected to approve the board’s 2024-25 budget on Tuesday, with a special budget board meeting expected the following day.

HRivers@postmedia.com

@HeaatheratLFP

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