Opposition critics are slamming the Ontario government’s decision to take over four Ontario school boards, including the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), calling the move a “power grab” that silences elected trustees.
“Doug Ford is playing political games with our kids’ futures instead of focusing on the future of our schools and what’s best for students,” Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles said.
Stiles and a coalition of teacher unions and trustees held a news conference Thursday to call attention to the move. She accused Education Minister Paul Calandra of “forcing through a political power grab” that shuts parents’ voices out of the classroom.
The province announced on June 27 that it would be appointing supervisors to take over four school boards, citing investigations into their finances. In addition to the two Toronto boards, the province also appointed supervisors to the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) and the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB).
The ministry claimed the boards had “failed” in their responsibility to ensure student success and said it planned to address “concerns regarding growing deficits, depleting reserves and ongoing cases of mismanagement.”
A report on the TDSB released by Ontario’s auditor general in December found that “financial and capital resources are not consistently allocated in the most cost effective or efficient way” at the board.
However Stiles said the decision “was about control” rather than improving schools.
“This decision had nothing to do with improving our classrooms and everything to do with control,” she said. “It’s about shutting out families. It’s about a power grab, and it’s about political gains and what Ontario schools actually need is real investments.”
Trustee says parents don’t have voice now
TDSB Trustee Matias de Dovitiis also spoke at the news conference. He said he’s been instructed by the ministry not to respond to complaints from the community while the board is under supervision.
“The role of trustee is to be the voice for a community. So it’s not about the individuals that are currently elected; it’s about a democratic tradition that goes back to 1849,” de Dovitiis said. “We’ve had elected trustees in this province before Canada became a country.”
Chandra Pasma, the NDP’s shadow minister for education, said trustees provide an important link between parents and the school system.
“What we’ve seen in those provinces that have done away with elected trustees is that there’s incredible parent frustration because they’ve lost their ability to have a say in their children’s school system,” Pasma said.
De Dovitiis said the province has chronically underfunded schools, putting them in a position where they’re being asked to slash services the community wants.
“The supervisor created a report and gave it to the minister. It said, basically, we didn’t follow 40 per cent of the recommendations from staff,” de Dovitiis said.
“The recommendations from staff that we didn’t follow were to close down pools, fire principals, fire safety monitors, to reduce outdoor education and to do away with the many things that make school education, public education better for our kids. We weren’t prepared to do that because we represent our communities, and our communities don’t want us to do that.”
Michelle Teixeira, president of the Toronto branch of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), also spoke at the news conference and said the move is a distraction from underfunding.
“It is an affront to local democracy and community voice,” she said. “The recent takeover of four school boards – including the largest in Canada, the TDSB – is evidence of this. The investigations into these school boards were nothing more than a ruse designed to distract from the fact that they are willfully underfunding education in this province.”
She cited a report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, which estimated Ontario underfunded education by $6.3 billion since 2018. That report pegged underfunding for the TDSB since 2018 at nearly $900 million.
She also noted that the TDSB continues to make up a large portion of the school repair backlog in the province, which stands at around $17 billion.
‘Focus on your mandate, or step aside’
In an email to CP24, Education Minister Paul Calandra said he’s unconcerned with the opinions of trustees.
“I am focused on listening to parents and teachers about how we can set students up for success, and less concerned about the opinions of trustees that have failed in their most basic responsibility: putting students first,” Calandra wrote.
“We are restoring accountability in Ontario’s education system and putting all trustees on notice: focus on your mandate, or step aside.”
He accused the opposition parties of defending “broken boards” and opposing accountability.
“While they fight to support out-of-touch school board trustees, we will fight for students, parents, and teachers,” Calandra wrote.
Calandra’s office said parents should reach out directly to school boards with their concerns while the boards are under supervision.
