Ontario school board spending over $41K on staff travel to Brazil, Italy, Germany and Dubai

In the midst of a budget freeze, trustees at an Ontario Catholic school board sent a senior staff member to Brazil, Italy and Germany this year, and have approved a fourth trip to the United Arab Emirates in 2025, at a total cost of more than $41,000. 

The purpose of all four trips was to meet with recruiters at conferences and attract international students to Halton Catholic District School Board (HCDSB) schools in Burlington, Oakville and Milton, superintendent, Anthony Cordeiro told trustees at a meeting in April. 

International students attending HCDSB elementary and secondary schools will "alleviate the pressures of declining enrolment," said Cordeiro, who attends the conferences on behalf of the board. 

"It's at these recruitment fairs that the first connection and relationship-building begins." 

Trustees approved $10,100 for a conference in Rome in September, $9,200 for a November conference in Berlin, and $9,700 for another in Dubai in February 2025. The budgeted amounts were for airfare, four-night hotel stays, food and taxis, as well as $6,200 to register for each conference run by International Consultants for Education and Fairs. 

Cordeiro's February trip to São Paulo, Brazil was expected to cost $10,250, according to a 2023 report to trustees. HCDSB told CBC Hamilton it wouldn't release how much the trip actually cost unless a freedom of information request was filed.

The Rome trip ended up costing $2,000 more than projected, according to a document obtained through a freedom of information request and seen by CBC Hamilton. 

At the April meeting this year, trustee Brenda Agnew was among the minority that opposed spending money on three more trips to Rome, Berlin and Dubai, as the board is running on a tight budget. 

"Anecdotally, I have been hearing from staff in the system wondering why we have a budget freeze, but we see lavish locations being presented for travel from senior staff," she said at a meeting in April. 

CBC Hamilton learned about the trips this month from a parent, Allison Kolch, who had seen media coverage of other Ontario boards funding travel for staff and trustees.

Kolch, whose children attend an HCDSB elementary school in Oakville, said she can't "follow the logic for why" a superintendent would need to travel internationally without providing detailed evidence of the direct return on investment. 

'A means to enhance cultural diversity,' HCDSB says

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, HCDSB staff, including Cordeiro, had travelled to similar conferences in places like Mexico, Russia, China, Turkey and Germany, Cordeiro said in April. 

When asked by Agnew in April how many students were recruited directly as a result of these trips, Cordeiro could not say. But he noted at the time about 300 international students were attending HCDSB.

The board has 36,000 students enrolled in total, according to its website. 

Cordeiro said that following his trip to São Paulo, two Brazilian students had expressed interest in attending HCDSB in September. HCDSB did not answer CBC Hamilton's question about whether those students did end up enrolling.

"While we're mindful of the associated costs, we consider these investments in our international education program a means to enhance cultural diversity within our schools and generate additional funding that directly supports our students," spokesperson Amanda Bartucci said in a statement. 

"Considering current budgetary challenges, the international student program provides a revenue stream that supports programs and resources for all students in our board." 

Return on investment not clear

The board did not say how much revenue is generated through the program.

The treasurer of the board, Aaron Lofts, told trustees in April that while international students pay about $15,000 in tuition annually to attend HCDSB schools, the board has to hire additional staff to support their learning, including English teachers. 

Lofts was unable to provide trustees with a cost breakdown at the meeting. 

Kolch told CBC Hamilton she requested a cost-benefit analysis from the board after the meeting, but was told in an email from board chair Marvin Duarte that it's "challenging" to put one together.

"As responsible stewards of the board's budget, we must ensure that our decisions are backed by robust data and transparent processes," Duarte said in the email dated June 17 and seen by CBC Hamilton. 

"However, it is challenging to provide a clear cost/benefit analysis as there is not always a reliable way to assess a direct correlation between recruitment fairs and international student enrolment." 

Duarte said he voted in favour of sending the superintendent on three trips "with the intention of enhancing recruitment efforts to secure more international students and thereby generate more revenue." 

Province auditing school board spending

But Kolch is looking for more due diligence, especially when she sees the impacts of board budget constraints on her children, she said.

Last school year, she said she spent a couple hundred dollars to buy hand soap, tissues and art supplies for their classrooms. She's also donated to parent fundraising initiatives to purchase items like new laptops and stage curtains not covered by the board's budget. 

"I think what we are seeing more broadly is that the model is broken in a lot of ways," Kolch said. 

She called for more oversight of trustees. 

In recent weeks, school boards across Ontario have come under scrutiny for spending tens of thousands of taxpayer money on travel in 2024.

Four trustees in Brantford spent $50,000 to travel to Italy and purchased $100,000 worth of custom art on behalf of the board. After local media reported about the trip, trustees agreed to pay back the board for the travel expenses and find donors to cover the art costs.

Staff members at a school board near London went to a conference in Hawaii, costing $32,000. 

At another school board in the area, 18 board members spent $38,000 for a two-night stay at Toronto's Rogers Centre. 

And over a dozen senior staff members at the London Catholic District School Board went on a $16,000 two-day trip to St. Catharines. 

In response, Minister of Education Jill Dunlop announced last week she will immediately start auditing the discretionary spending of all school boards in Ontario. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment on this story.