The Coalition Avenir Québec government has repeatedly stated over the past seven years that education is a priority for them, yet it’s often been hard to reconcile that rhetoric with the reality on the ground.

In the latest blow, Quebec’s English school boards and French school service centres were told to slash at least $570 million (some school officials estimate it could be closer to $1 billion) from their budgets. This is in addition to $200 million in budget cuts announced earlier in the school year, which will undoubtedly affect the quality and availability of student services, meal programs, renovations and staff hirings. Even services for students with learning difficulties won’t be spared.

While school boards, service centres, teachers and parents were busy denouncing the cuts last week, part of the ceiling of a Quebec City elementary school collapsed, poetically representative of the breakdown of our educational system.

Quebec’s two........

© Montreal Gazette