PQ Education Minister Marie Malavoy appears at ease with the tax hikes school boards have reverted to in order to make up for the $65 million cut the provincial government imposed on the boards in April, which are on top of the $150 million cuts it announced in the last budget.
Malavoy, in interview with the Canadian Press, said that the boards should either cut spending, increase revenues or use whatever surplus cash they’ve accumulated in the past.
"From what I have seen, no board has increased the school tax beyond the legal limit, which is 35 cents per $100 of evaluation. In the majority of cases it's around 23 or 25 cents," the minister said.
Malavoy said that the school tax varies so widely from place to place that in some regions a 40 percent hike only represents a $20 increase but elsewhere a 10 percent increase can prove considerably more expensive.
Malavoy defended the provincial cuts, which she said were entirely justified.
-With a file from The Canadian Press
