Teachers, trustees and opposition politicians are calling on the Ford government to drop its takeover of school boards and hand out more education funding, claiming recent moves are “designed to distract” from deeper issues.
On Thursday, Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles was joined by teaching unions and a Toronto District School Board trustee to oppose recent major moves by the education minister.
Minister Paul Calandra announced at the end of June he would send supervisors to take over the Toronto District, Toronto Catholic, Ottawa Carlton and Dufferin-Peel Catholic boards.
He said the four boards were failing to properly manage their finances following a series of investigations.
Opponents, however, say provincial funding has failed to keep pace with inflation and enrolment fluctuations, leaving boards with no choice. They argue the takeovers — which will become easier if new legislation passes — are about control.
Ontario NDP MPP Chandra Pasma lamented the fact that the takeover sidelines trustees, who have been removed from decision-making and also told not to communicate with parents.
“Instead of making the investments that our schools need, Doug Ford and Paul Calandra are taking away a parent’s ability to have a say in the important decisions that directly affect their children,” she said.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
“Taking over school boards and trustees means communities are losing their voice. They are losing the people they turn to when they need help.”
Stiles said the move made it harder for families to effect change in the local system.
“It’s about shutting out families, it’s about a power grab, and it’s all about political gains,” she said. “And what Ontario schools actually need is real investments.”
Michelle Teixeira, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation Toronto branch, said the government is hellbent on taking over the boards.
She pointed to the report completed by PwC, looking at the Toronto District School Board’s finances before the takeover was announced.
That report did recommend Calandra take control of the school board as a result of “probably accumulated deficits,” but it didn’t find examples of reckless or deliberate financial mismanagement. Nor did it not find evidence that the board was in danger of defaulting.
“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,” Teixeira said.
“Despite the fact that the TDSB balanced its budget, and that the investigation found no evidence of financial mismanagement, the Ford government continues to place the blame on trustees rather than where it belongs, squarely on themselves.”
One of the reasons given by Calandra for the takeover of TDSB was the fact that trustees rejected 40 per cent of cost-saving recommendations from staff.
TDSB Trustee Matias de Dovitiis said Thursday that the cuts they rejected would have been damaging to students and parents — some of which the minister of education forbade them from doing.
“The recommendations from staff that we didn’t follow were to close down pools, fire principals, fire safety monitors, reduce outdoor education, and do away with the many things that make school education, public education, better for kids,” de Dovitiis said.
“We weren’t prepared to do that because we represent our communities, and our communities don’t want us to do that.”
The Ministry of Education did not send a statement in time for publication.
In response to questions in the legislature from the NDP about funding, Calandra has said the current government is spending more than ever before on education.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
