School tax rates:

Western Quebec School Board wants the status quo

While solutions to school taxation issues in the Outaouais are being discussed at the provincial Ministry of Education, the West Quebec School Board (WQSB) has firmly come out for “maintaining the status quo.”

WQSB taxpayers now benefit from a lower tax rate than their French-board counterparts. Over the last few years, this has led to a migration of taxpayers from the French boards to the WQSB; property-owners can choose which school board to support with their taxes, if they don’t have a child in school. The Ministry of Education compensates each school board based on its taxation income. This means that if the WQSB receives more tax money, it gets an equivalent reduction in ministry funding; and vice versa for the French boards.

Faced with this alarming loss of tax revenue, the directors of the four French-language school boards in the Outaouais asked the Ministry of Education last week to standardize school taxation rates across the Outaouais.

James Shea, Chair of the WQSB, disagrees. “If the Ministry intends to change the taxation rules and regulations, it should do so on a provincial level, and not (impose) a regional solution on the Outaouais”, he stated.

Shea added that, so far, the Minister of Education has not been in contact with him to discuss any changes to school taxation in the region. The WQSB is the only English-language school board in western Quebec.