Questions arise over $45K four trustees spent on trip to Italy

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A case of taxpayer money being used to fund “questionable” activities has reached close to home following the recent brouhaha involving the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic School Board.

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At question is a July trip to Italy that four trustees made to purchase art for a new Catholic high school currently under construction in Brantford. The trip, which cost the board $45,000, is now under a governance review at the behest of Ontario’s education minister.

Once the media got wind of the plan to purchase $100,000 worth of art in a foreign country, there surely must have been a collective “Oh-Oh” uttered by board officials. Taxpaying separate school supporters were likely seething at the same time.

The traveling trustees have since said they will cover the cost of the trip out of their own pocket. That’s a whopping $11,250 apiece, assuming their costs were identical. Owning up to the expense at least gives them a ray of hope for re-election.

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The big question needed to be asked is, why was it so important in the first place to decorate this school with such expensive artwork? Was it necessary to procure authentic Italian artwork?

That’s what the president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation wondered. Why did the board feel the need to go to such extremes for suitable artwork, she asked, suggesting the school’s talented students could adequately do the job. My thoughts exactly. It’s a school, for Pete’s sake, not the Louvre.

Education Minister Jill Dunlop has acknowledged the board’s “regrets” for greenlighting the trip, but she was also concerned that the accountability came after the media came out with the story. The board’s actions come across as a case of closing the barn doors after the horses have escaped.

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Although the board noted the cost of the artwork was covered by surplus money, donations are now being collected to defray the expense.  It’s essentially a backwards approach for making purchases. Usually, donations are collected and then purchases are made – not the other way around.

This unfortunate means of damage control might help the board save face in the aftermath of its shortsightedness, but it should never have come to this in the first place. Had the money to purchase the artwork been collected up front through private donations, I wonder how many board trustees would have voluntarily agreed to pay out of pocket for a trip to Italy.

The local Catholic school board isn’t the only institute to have dropped the ball this year in terms of curious spending. In nearby London, the Thames Valley District School Board spent about $40,000 in August to send 18 administrators on a retreat to Toronto for three days. Their stay at the pricey Toronto Blue Jays stadium hotel raised a red flag, especially when the board was dealing with a $7.6-million budget deficit.

Taxpayers pay close attention to the spending habits of elected bodies and make mental notes of how individual trustees and councillors vote on fiscal matters. Spending can be viewed as either a wise investment or a misuse of funds. Like elephants, they don’t forget, especially when it’s time for the next municipal election.

Mike Jiggens is a Delhi resident.

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