EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted exclusively to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park.
For over two centuries, school boards have been a local cornerstone of democracy. Committed trustees, rooted in their communities, have forged innovative policy and fought for what best serves the success and well-being of society’s greatest asset, our children. These policies, born locally, frequently shape practices provincewide.
The financial crises facing school boards are the direct result of chronic underfunding. These funding shortfalls often exceed actual board deficits. The annual search for savings that don’t erode or eliminate vital programs and services that support student success and well-being is a piecemeal approach that cannot address today’s fiscal realities in public education — nor will the provincial government’s ongoing vilification of trustees and local governance.
Yes, boards have flaws. Divisions emerge. Some trustees pursue single issues and sometimes lose sight of the whole. That happens in every elected body, whether it be municipal, provincial or federal. There should be clearer mechanisms to correct these situations when they occur.
But the province’s recent sidelining of trustees at four boards placed under supervision, with an eye to eliminating school board trustees altogether, is not about improved governance practices. It is about erasure. And erasing local democratic governance severs the link between schools and communities and undermines accountability to the public.
A reasoned and evidence-based review of the mandate and operations of school boards, to maximize the impact of their resources, could be beneficial. It could strengthen collaboration among all the adults who shape students’ lives — families, educators, communities and the government — and ensure public education truly serves the needs of every student.
However, it is vitally important to understand that widespread “bloat” or financial mismanagement in Ontario’s school boards is not the root of the current problem; funding below inflation is. According to the Ontario Public School Boards Association (OPSBA), “Even with recent increases, there’s still a $404 per-student funding gap compared to 2018.”
There is no pot of gold in any school board’s basement to deal with substantially escalated costs. Consider three of many examples:
1) The fiscal challenges of special education alone have significantly strained school board resources; recent data confirm that most of Ontario’s 72 school boards are overspending by more than $850 million to support students with complex needs.
2) Like all full-time employers, school boards are required to pay important statutory benefits (CPP and EI), mandated by the federal government. CPP has been gradually increasing since 2019, with an additional contribution rate added in 2024. Costs for these statutory benefits have increased by over $100 million in Ontario’s English-speaking school boards alone. The provincial government has not yet made a commitment to funding those costs.
3) An eight-year government moratorium on school closures has prevented school boards’ innovative use of under-enrolled or under-renovated school properties. It was encouraging to hear the education minister pondering the possibility of lifting this prohibition. Alternate use of school board properties must be marked by local consultation and decision-making. The properties must remain in district school boards’ control to ensure that the revenue is reinvested in public education and is not subsumed by other government agendas.
Local decisions are best made informed by local circumstances and parent and community perspectives, not from Queen’s Park, where broader educational policy is decided. For example, transportation protocols in rural and northern areas, decisions about new schools in growing boards, management of aging facilities in large urban centres, unique partnerships among English, French and Catholic systems, and building trust with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities are some of the many issues/opportunities that have the greatest chance of successful implementation if governed locally.
Recent assertions by the provincial government that school boards have outlived their usefulness are not only unsubstantiated, they are also an assault on community-based, democratic accountability in the public education system. We need to learn from other provinces that eliminated publicly elected school trustees and subsequently reinstated them while addressing perceived problems. In these troubled and complex times, we must guard against the erosion of democracy, especially in the education of our children.
Gerry Connelly is a former director of education of the Toronto District School Board, Linda Fabi is a former director of education of the Waterloo Region District School Board, Joan Green is an Order of Ontario appointee and a former director of education of the Toronto Board of Education and Ken Thurston is a former director of education for the York Region District School Board.