Teachers pay more for school items under provincial rules

Ontario's teachers pay more for almost everything from pencils to computers when they shop at web stores stocked with items sold by approved vendors.

All classroom purchases by public school employees have to be made through virtual portals full of items sold by approved vendors on multiple year contracts with boards. 

As teachers were outfitting their classrooms for the new school year, CBC News did a cost comparison of supplies found for sale on southern Ontario's largest school board's web store to the same items sold in local retail stores. 

Findings included:

• Chromebooks were $100 more for teachers
• Soccer balls were double the price for teachers

Teachers often have an annual classroom budget which varies according to subject and grade-level taught. Two Ontario teachers in the primary system said they each have $200 to spend on supplies of their choice.

'Never any sales'

They said that cash could stretch much further if they were allowed to purchase things on sale, or in bulk at Costco, for example. 

"The web store doesn't have sales," said Heidi Solway, a teacher at Emily Carr Public School in London, who often spends her own money on classroom supplies.

"The web store is often more expensive than Walmart." 

Why school supplies are more expensive

Publicly funded institutions in Ontario — school boards, hospitals, post-secondary institutions — fall under the Broader Public Sector Accountability Act, which governs how goods and services by those organizations must be purchased. 

"We have contracts with vendors and we follow the broader public sector procurement guidelines," said Christine Beal, the Thames Valley school board's superintendent of business. "We have a contractual obligation to buy from those vendors. We do have huge buying power." 

The Thames Valley board and the London District Catholic school board put out requests for proposals or tenders and sign years-long contracts with vendors who supply school-related products. 

Home and school groups give goods, not cash

Home and school associations, which fundraise money for non-educational extras their students need, buy items and donate them to schools instead of donating cash, said Jennifer Courtney-Nuyens, who has been the Northdale Central public school home and school president for four years. 

"We do hot lunch fundraisers and we make $15,000 to $20,00 a year," she said. "The money supports enhanced learning in the classroom." 

The home and school association has funded the science, french, and music departments, as well as recess equipment such as skipping ropes and Frisbees. 

"There's a general assumption that the web store is a bit pricier," Courtney-Nuyens said. 

"I do a lot of the purchasing, and I wait until stuff goes on sale. Last year we built a Lego wall and I waited for a sale and got eight kits instead of four." 

'Guarantee of quality'

The Thames Valley school board says the web portals offer competitive prices.

"There's a lot of comfort in the quality of the products and a lot of standards that our vendors have to meet," said Beal. 

"We build a relationship with our vendors, so there is a guarantee of quality and if the product breaks or doesn't meet our standards, we can send it back. There's a lot more than just the cost point. There's an expectation that we are responsible with public dollars." 

When things are cheaper at major retailers, "the public sector guidelines don't give us the flexibility to change vendors," she added. 

But, if a teacher brought a glaring price discrepancy to the board's attention, it would investigate, Beal said.