$510 Million Education Budget Cuts in Quebec: Outaouais Will Suffer the Consequences

Mélissa Gélinas

Budget cuts of $510 million will apply to all school service centres in Quebec by June 2026. As a result, Outaouais schools close to Ontario will face numerous challenges that will affect both staff and students.

According to Kim Lafleur Lauriault, president of the Outaouais school support union, the effects are already being felt by the exodus of staff to Ontario, including administrative staff heading to the public service. "It creates a snowball effect," she explained. "When someone leaves, it creates additional work for another employee, and so on." According to Lafleur Lauriault, the increased workload can also lead to overwork burnout, which is increasingly pervasive in the education sector.

For its part, the Ministry of Education wants everyone to collaborate and work together to respect budgets and ensure there is no impact on student services. However, Lafleur Lauriault states that these new restrictions will inevitably have a negative impact on students. "This will particularly affect students with special needs [...]," she explained. "Any special support to which each student is entitled will therefore have to be cut from the budget."

According to the information obtained, the population of Outaouais represents approximately 5% of Quebec's total population; therefore, the Outaouais’ share of the $510 million budget cut will be about $25 million.

On the other hand, Education Minister Bernard Drainville insists that these are not cuts, but savings. Last year, investments were made for classroom support in 50% of elementary schools.

Lafleur Lauriault, for her part, recognizes the importance of this measure, but she believes it is not effective if the government makes cuts elsewhere. "Minister Bernard Drainville is not aware of the reality and doesn't know what's going on," she emphasizes.

In addition, further budgetary restrictions will have to be imposed on the number of employees in Quebec's public schools. In other words, for the 2025-2026 school year, the number of full-time employees must not exceed 152,500. This represents a small increase of 1.7%, compared to an average growth rate of 5% to 6%.

As for private schools, they will also have to reduce their expenses. Specifically, this involves saving $56 million by June 2026.