Manitoba K-12 education probed by auditor general

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This article was published 26/11/2020 (1243 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Office of the Auditor General is conducting a probe into the province’s handling of K to-12 education during the pandemic.

Critics hope it will be finished soon for the sake of Manitoba students, teachers and parents who are grappling with the COVID-19 crisis.

“I hope the auditor general can come back with recommendations that could save this school year, so we can maybe turn things around for the current school year,” NDP Leader Wab Kinew said Friday.

“I do expect the recommendations will be for things we already know that are needed to keep kids safe,” he said.

His party, parents and teachers have called for the province to hire more teachers and rent more classroom space to allow for greater social distancing and help limit transmission of the virus.

Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen declined to comment Friday.

Auditor general Tyson Shtykalo did not respond to an interview request. Late Friday, his office issued a statement saying the auditor general had received numerous inquiries from Manitobans and members of the legislative assembly on the pandemic crisis. He confirmed he will examine and report on the province’s response.

“As COVID 19 initiatives involve a significant investment by the government of Manitoba, and have had a significant impact in Manitoba, I have already announced one audit and will be announcing future audits.”

There was no press release or news conference to announce the audit of the government’s handling of the school system. It closed schools in March and reopened them in September as the second wave of the virus was about to hit. A notice that an audit is underway appeared on the auditor general’s website under the heading “Currently in progress.”

Shortly after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, the Manitoba government declared a state of emergency and issued public health orders related to physical distancing, limits on public gatherings, restrictions on business, and the cancellation of many activities, the notice said. “Millions of dollars in supports have been announced.”

The auditor general’s office said that from August to October, it held meetings with stakeholders to understand how they have been affected by the pandemic, and the government’s pandemic planning, preparedness and response.

“A theme emerging from these discussions was the significant impact of the March to June school closures, and the operational shifts required to educate students safely in classrooms when school resumed in the fall. This audit will assess the Manitoba government’s COVID-19 pandemic response as it relates to K to 12 Education.”

The audit is one of nine projects the office is working on right now. The office has more than 55 employees with teams working on a variety of projects, from performance audits, investigations, information technology audits, and governance audits and reviews.

The NDP had hoped the office would investigate how the provincial government has handled contact tracing and testing. Kinew said it requested such an audit in the summer.

“We’ve been getting stonewalled,” the NDP leader said. The province hasn’t provided data about testing and contact tracing that should be readily and publicly available, he said.

“How many people have they got working? How long are the majority of people waiting?” An independent audit would lay out the facts without any political spin or message control, he said.

“I want Manitobans to get the answers they deserve,” said Kinew.

Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont had hoped for an audit of Manitoba Health’s handling of the health-care system, but thinks that might be too much for the auditor general to probe in the midst of the crisis.

Focusing on K-12 education is taking a digestible bite out of all the government’s pandemic actions, Lamont said Friday.

“I think it’s a first step,” Lamont said. “This is more achievable.” The audit is needed to show how decisions were made regarding the closing and reopening of schools, he said.

“If it explains why and how cuts were made, why no money was allocated till August, and whatever happened with the federal back-to-school money, then it is more than worthwhile.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca