A former bureaucrat has been appointed, at a cost to taxpayers of $1,500 a day, to oversee and make all the financial decisions at the Duffern-Peel Catholic school board. Norbert Hartmann was named to the post by Ontario Education Minister Kathleen Wynne. She said his salary, which is paid by the already impoverished Dufferin-Peel schools, is on-par with what was paid to previous supervisors who have been sent to balance the budgets of rebellious school boards.

The two-member special assistance teams examining the mass of cuts being made in Toronto public and Catholic schools are also earning $1,500 a day, said a spokesperson for Wynne.

Under the Canadian school system there are two school boards and two types of schools in each locale. A public school system and a Catholic school system. Canadian taxpayers must pay school taxes, but they are given the choice of which one they want to support.

Hartmann was appointed to take over the finances of the Dufferin-Peel Catholic schools after trustees refused to make $16.5 million (Canadian) in cuts to balance the board's $670 million budget.

There is no set term for Hartman's appointment, so it is not clear how much taxpayers will have to pay.

"He's not going to be working full time every day. He'll go in as needed," Wynne told the Toronto Star.

Parent Sharon Hobin, who is running for trustee at the Dufferin-Peel board, said resident are appalled by the money being spent on provincial appointees.

"Local school boards have no input into who is appointed to supervise their finances in these situations," she said.