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TORONTO—While several organizations representing all aspects of publicly funded education in Ontario are expressing concerns about recent comments from Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra regarding the potential elimination of school board trustees, the chair of the Rainbow District School Board (RDSB) is fully in support of the stance the groups are taking and the three recommendations they are united in calling for from the government.

“I’m very proud of my colleagues in the Ontario Public School Boards Association (OPSBA) and the other stakeholders in trying to push back on the potential elimination of school boards and trustees,” stated David Farrow, RDSB chair. “The thing is many people may be missing out on the fact that this is an attack by the minister of education on local democracy.”

“School board trustees provide the local voice in education for parents, front line educators and students,” said Mr. Farrow. “Trustees are the local voice and fight for local needs. For instance, within RDSB, every day there are transportation needs that we hear about from the local voice on needs that we have to relay to the province.”

OPSBA was joined at a press conference on March 11 at Queen’s Park by a number of organizations, including the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, the Ontario Student Trustees Association, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation and more. 

The organizations expressed concerns about recent comments from Education Minister Paul Calandra regarding the potential elimination of elected school board trustees, a system of governance that has been in place longer than Canada has been a country. This change, if implemented, would remove one of the most important ways that families and communities have a say in how their schools are governed. It would also mean that important decisions about education could be made without approaching public discussion, debate, and awareness. 

“When decisions are being made about our children and their education, they must be made in public, open to public scrutiny,” said OPSBA President Kathleen Woodcock, who is also a trustee with the Waterloo Region District School Board. “The people making these decisions should be directly accountable to you, the public.”

“Our local democracy is at risk,” said Ms. Woodcock. “There have been elected trustees since 1807, which is longer than Canada has been in existence.” She pointed out in public surveys that have been taken, “Ontario residents want trustees to remain in place, to provide the local voice. Policies centralizing a one size fits all does not work. It reduces the local voice and accountability.” 

“We want to work with government to make things right, and keep them public,” said Ms. Woodcock.

The groups are united in calling for the following: the government and education minister Paul Calandra to undertake broad consultations with education partners before advancing any legislative reforms to school board governance; the consultation should include the voices and perspectives of student and parents, including parents of students with disabilities, school boards, education staff, and subject matter experts; and the government should outline a detailed plan with clear goals and benchmarks for the return to local democratic oversight at school boards currently under supervision.

The urgency of this issue is increasing, as nominations for municipal councils and school board elections are slated to open on May 1. 

The organizations outlined trustee have a key role in Ontario’s four publicly funded education systems. Without elected trustees, decisions about school closures, special education priorities, student supports, and the use or sale of public school land would be made behind closed doors, further away from the communities they affect. Ms. Woodcock outlined for example in schools currently under supervision, important decision are regularly being made by a provincially appointed supervisor who is accountable only to a minister at Queen’s Park, not to local families. 

The organizations noted public education shapes Ontario’s economy, communities and future. Decisions about curriculum priorities, equity policies, mental health support, and long-term capital planning require democratic oversight. 

OPSBA has long stated its willingness to partner with the government in any dialogue or discussion about possible governance changes, and the groups making this statement share this approach, said Ms. Woodcock. “When government and partners in the sector come together to discuss and debate ideas openly and work through challenges collaboratively, we arrive at stronger public policy, and that is exactly the point of a healthy democracy.”

Carter Peios, president of the Ontario Student Trustees Association-AECO said, “student trustees are students only direct voice at the school board level and our role as the authentic advocates for the group most affected by school board policies is crucial. Eliminating student trustees would mean eliminating essential democratic voices for students.”
Mr. Peios said since student representatives on school board was established in 1999, students have had a voice, are accountable, transferrable, because of trustees and have accomplished important things for its students. “Student trustees provide strength, accountability, transparency and students succeed when we are at the school board table.”
David Mastin, president of ETFO pointed out since 2018 $6 billion dollars has been removed from education funding by the province. “Comments about eliminating trustees should be a concern for all educators, students and parents as they should all have a voice in education.”

“Open, transparent public education supports students, not a single individual minister,” said Mr. Mastin. “When decisions are made by a single minister without collaboration, this is not a democracy. If the minister had evidence that changes to the schoolboard model would be beneficial we would share this opinion. But when unilateral decisions are made without consultation and input from stakeholders, this is not democracy.” 

“Dismantling local democratic oversight would be one of the most consequential changes to public education in Ontario’s history. Removing this accountability puts students at risk, distances families from the decisions that affect their children’s learning and erodes public trust. Educators and families deserve more than unilateral reforms made without evidence, consultation, or respect from the Minister.”

“Ontario has at least 333,000 K-12 students with disabilities,” said David Lepofsky, Chair of AODA Alliance, and Chair, Special Education Advisory Committee of the Toronto District School Board. “Too many are chronically vulnerable and underserved. Things have gotten worse for them at supervised school boards. Trustees were their last resort short of litigation, for battling to get their child’s disability-related needs accommodated.”

“The recently instituted Student and Family Support Offices are no replacement,” said Mr. Lepofsky. “The TDSB supervisor has raised permissible class sizes in ways that especially hurt students with disabilities. Without democratic accountability via trustees, school boards risk becoming more bureaucratic for parents and their children with disabilities. He called on minister Calandra to ‘mend it, don’t end it.’”

Premier Doug Ford won’t say whether or not school board trustees will be on the ballot in this fall’s municipal elections, but he’s promising to share an answer on that question soon. “We’ll come out with an answer on that shortly,” the premier said Wednesday morning, when a reporter asked him for a yes-or-no answer to the question about whether or not trustees will be elected this fall, reported the Toronto Star.

Minister Calandra said he hasn’t yet given the premier his suggestions for reform of plans for trustees, adding that he would have a whole host of options for his cabinet colleges to review. “So that has yet to be decided. But full-stop, if it’s not in the best interest of students, and not in the best interest of teachers delivering, then it is not a direction we’ll go in,” the Star reported. 

“I just hope it is not too late and that minister has not already made his decision,” said Mr. Farrow. He pointed out the province is singling out English funded schoolboards. “I think there are going to be changes to governance and boards, but at this point we don’t know what it will look like.”