Ottawa’s two Catholic school boards are among the fastest-growing boards in Ontario, and both have seen even more students in their classrooms this September than they expected.The Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est told CBC News it has an extra 1,800 students this fall compared to last, a 6.3 per cent increase. It now counts more than 30,000 students across 60 schools.That’s an unusually big single-year bump for an Ontario board.The Ottawa Catholic School Board, meanwhile, says enrolment on the first day of school had jumped 4.8 per cent from the year before, or by 2,436 students. That’s better than it projected.It’s not a one-year anomaly. The English Catholic board has grown by 10,000 students since the 2018-19 school year, and now reports a student population of more than 53,000.The public French-language board in the Ottawa area, the Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario, has grown about as quickly. It expected a more modest gain of 288 students, or 1.6 per cent, this fall and says it has slightly exceeded those expectations.Ontario’s 72 school boards don’t send formal enrolment numbers to the Ministry of Education until the end of October, so the figures could still change, but they show a continuing trend in Ottawa: Catholic boards especially are growing rapidly, while the English public Ottawa-Carleton District School Board has seen its student population hover near 76,000 over the last few years and is therefore losing ground.When most education funding in Ontario is distributed on a per-student basis, it means the English public board’s revenues aren’t increasing like those of other boards.This year, the ministry estimates it will send Ottawa’s English-language boards about $14,000 per student in core grants, while the city’s two French-language boards should get about $18,000.And a CBC News analysis of enrolment data shows Ottawa is not alone: A similar trend is happening in a few other cities.A tale of 2 boardsAt the Ottawa Catholic School Board, the extra 2,000 or more students are enough for four elementary school buildings.”That creates some pressures with respect to space — building new buildings and putting portables in, while we advocate for some more capital builds — but it’s a good problem to have,” said Lisa Schimmens, associate director of business affairs.The Catholic board plans to build three new schools — one in south Orléans and two in south Kanata — but that can take years. It’s adding 50 portable classrooms to deal with this year’s surge in students.Schimmens says if the Catholic board wasn’t growing, it would have to look more urgently for savings.”When we continue to grow every year that helps us to cover off any inflation that might not be covered by the [core education] grant, so we’re in a good position that way,” said Schimmens. ANALYSIS | Two-thirds of Ontario school boards in deficit or just breaking even Instead, the Ottawa Catholic School Board expected to add 352 full-time positions, mostly classroom teachers and educational assistants, this year. It’s a markedly different story from the one that’s playing out at its English public counterpart, which cut positions this year. Ottawa’s biggest school board is under ministry control. What happens now? The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board was taken over by the Ministry of Education in June, even after it balanced its $1.24-billion budget, because of its accumulating deficit. Fast-growing boards in London, Ottawa, WaterlooEach school board can have particular demands, demographics and priorities, but Ottawa is not the only city where the large English public board is lagging behind its Catholic counterparts when it comes to enrolment.CBC News analyzed enrolment for all 72 school boards, going back to the 2018-2019 school year. Boards provide that data to the Ministry of Education as part of their financial estimates.Across Ontario, most of the fastest-growing boards are in the Catholic systems, with London District Catholic School Board consistently topping the list. Enrolment there has jumped 32 per cent since the 2018-19 school year. It had a hiring blitz and even capped enrolment at several schools to cope with the rapid rise.Its public counterpart, the Thames Valley District School board, grew a more modest six per cent in that time, and was projecting flat enrolment this September. It is also one of the five boards taken over by the Ministry of Education. Why are there so many non-Catholic students in London’s Catholic high schools? Windsor-Essex Catholic school board projects 780-student enrolment boost this fall Catholic boards are also growing at a faster rate than their public counterparts in the Waterloo area, and in Windsor and Essex County.Even with higher per-pupil revenues, there can still be struggles — London’s Catholic board is reporting a shortfall this year. Meanwhile, other Catholic boards are struggling with significant deficits or seeing shrinking enrolment. Dufferin-Peel Catholic, for instance, is under supervision and enrolment there has fallen more than 11 per cent since the pandemic. Education minister open to eliminating Ontario school trustees CBC News asked if Education Minister Paul Calandra was concerned about boards with flat or shrinking enrolment. His office pointed to the record $30.3 billion being spent on education this school year, and said “we expect all school boards across the province to spend every dollar of these funds directly on students, parents, and teachers.” As for the often-raised question of maintaining four boards, press secretary Emma Testani wrote: “The government is not considering eliminating the Catholic school board system.”Many factors at playThe president of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association said parents consider many things when deciding on the schools their children attend. (Both of Ottawa’s Catholic boards accept students of all faiths.)There are also unique factors at each board that affect those decisions, Michelle Bellmore wrote in an emailed statement.”We also know that Catholic school boards’ longstanding commitment to excellence in academic and co-curricular activities and priority on ‘placing Christ and the teachings of the Catholic Church at the centre’ of students’ learning experiences are significant contributing factors to the decisions made by parents,” wrote Bellmore.The Catholic and French-language boards in Ottawa point to many reasons for why families are coming their way.The Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est said in an email its flourishing numbers show families appreciate the quality teaching, pedagogical innovation and the importance the board places on well-being, equity, and inclusion.The Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario says it’s the largest French-language public school board outside Quebec, and points to the quality of French-language education it offers. Almost all students are bilingual when they graduate, the board’s communication staff wrote, and many are also attracted to specialized programs offered in sports, arts and sciences.Last spring, amid a big debate on school boundaries at the Ottawa-Carleton board, some parents also signalled they would shift their children out of the English public board.Test scores and identity issuesSachin Maharaj, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa, agrees shifting enrolment is part of a broader pattern that sees more families wanting to exercise choice in their children’s education, whether that’s for French immersion, specialized programs or among boards.He offers a few other factors for why Catholic schools might be outpacing public ones in Ottawa and elsewhere.”It also fits into some of the broader trends we’re seeing where school systems are being demonized, in some sense, for the way they approach certain equity issues, particularly related to gender and sexual identity.”Sachin Maharaj, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa, says when so many school boards are struggling to balance their budgets it points to a systemic problem. (Michel Aspirot/CBC)Maharaj pointed to how Premier Doug Ford has referred to boards “indoctrinating” students, and suggested such themes resonate with some families. Thousands gather in GTA for protests over gender, sexual identity in school curriculum, 1 arrested “Education in the Catholic system is viewed as more traditional when it comes to some of those dimensions, which I think is driving some of those enrolments,” suggested Maharaj.Catholic schools also have a reputation for being stronger academically, which parents perceive based on standardized-test scores, said Maharaj.”If you look at what sort of determines those test scores, the biggest factor by far are the student demographics — so how wealthy and well-educated their parents are — and that’s a consistent finding across the entire world.”
Ottawa’s Catholic school boards grow faster than expected again
