Trustees of the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board agreed to accept the terms of reference for a special adviser during a special meeting last Wednesday.

The role of the adviser, who will be appointed by the Minister of Education, is to help the board achieve a balanced budget within two years.

Peter Lauwers spoke on behalf of the minister during the July 14 meeting where he informed trustees they had two options. The first was to accept the terms of reference as outlined and maintain control over system cuts to achieve a balanced budget. Or, the second option was not to accept the terms of reference.

Mr. Lauwers said that if the board went with the second option the minister would issue a directive to the board to submit a balanced budget for the 2006-07 school year by August 31.

He then explained if the board failed to comply with the directive it would set the legal stage for cabinet to appoint a supervisor to take over the function of the board. Mr. Lauwers assured the minister would not hesitate to do so and the cabinet wouldn't hesitate to appoint one.

Trustees had reviewed the terms at a prior meeting on June 29 where they voted to accept the terms, but with amendments.

However, Minister Pupatello's response was that no amendments would be accepted and the board was in a "take it or leave it" position.

The decision by trustees was based on the prospect of having an outside agent make cuts that would affect Dufferin-Peel children.

"Frankly, trustees were astounded the minister would threaten the board with a supervisor, given the McGuinty government's strong position against that very notion when the Harris government was in power," said Chairman Peter Ferreira. "We are also very disappointed the minister refused to extend our deadline so that we could hold meaningful consultation with parents on any proposed cuts."

The board blames the deficit on chronic underfunding and has maintained the thought many other boards will soon be in a similar position.

Last September, the board had estimated its 2005-06 budget deficit to be $17.1 million. In December 2005, the board revised the estimate to $15.1 million.

The board, through a series of cost-saving measure, reduced its 20052006 deficit to approximately $7.4 million.

The latest estimate on its 2006-07 cumulative deficit is about $21.1 million.

"The Ministry has acknowledged that underfunding is a problem for school boards, and now we must wait for them to fix that problem," said Ferreira. "In the meantime, we will work co-operatively with the adviser."