PDSB trustee concerned about board’s special needs, ‘anti-Black, anti-Indigenous and anti-equity’ budget cuts for school year

Despite the provincial government handing control over governance back to the trustees elected to oversee the country’s second largest school board following decades of systemic racism, Peel District School Board’s latest budget was not supported by the elected official who challenged fellow trustees that have resisted change for years.

As the school year came to a close in June, trustees approved a $2.1 billion budget for 2024-2025 that includes cuts critics say will impact the board’s most vulnerable students, most of whom are racialized. 

It is the latest disturbing disconnect in a board where 85 percent of students identify as a visible minority, while the vast majority of staff including senior employees are white.

Trustee Kathy McDonald said cuts were made to programming across Equity, Indigenous Education, Special Education, Community Engagement, Safety and Well-Being and Communication functions of the board.

PDSB Trustee Kathy McDonald did not support this year’s budget.

(Supplied)

“The Board is required to prepare a balanced budget. Over the last several years this has proved to be more and more challenging due to continued enrolment decline, from 2019-20 (pre-COVID) we have had an almost 10,000 enrolment decline resulting in significant reduction in our Ministry funding,” a PDSB spokesperson wrote in an email response to The Pointer after questions were sent about any possible cuts to equity and other critical programs, including those mandated by the Ministry of Education as part of its effort to rehabilitate a school board that did deeply damaging harm to racialized students for decades.

For 2024-25 the board has 1,811 fewer students compared to the previous school year, according to the spokesperson. “With fewer students and reduced funding we have had to prioritize our programming to ensure we continue to serve our Black, Indigenous and marginalized students, as well as provide programming to help all students achieve to their potential.”

No “core programming” was cut, the spokesperson highlighted, acknowledging that funding from departmental budgets was reduced. No details on the specific cuts to particular programs were provided, but it was confirmed that certain funding was only approved for last year in the following areas: Special Education; Safety and Well-Being; Communication and Engagement.

Regarding equity and Indigenous education programs the spokesperson said staff have been added in these areas for the current school year, but did not provide any details about specific programs.

Shelley Foster, chair of the board’s Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC), told The Pointer that even though there have been some increases to the board’s special education department, they are largely due to salaries. However, there have been cuts in services, including several psychology staff who oversee assessments for students with complex needs. 

“There are some contained classrooms that have been cut (classes where students stay in the same room as a group with the same educators who teach a range of subjects or skills), and we get told that it's because there's no need for them, or there's a lack of need for them, but then we hear from the parents whose kids were in these programs… and they don't know how their kids are going to respond, and are they going to get the proper supports,” she said. 

“Cutting back on contained programs is not necessarily the right way to go. We need to have a wide variety of placement options for kids with exceptionalities, especially those kids with really high needs.”

Cutting back on psychology staff, she explained, means children are waiting longer to be assessed, putting them further behind other students. 

“We're disadvantaging the most vulnerable population, the kids that come from a lower socioeconomic background, the kids that come from single-parent families, families where the mother is working or the father is working two or three jobs in order to keep a roof over their head.”

“The kids that are from the lower socio-economic statuses, they're just going to flounder. When we take away that, then we're going to have more kids that are slipping through the cracks.”

Trustee McDonald, who has been the driving force against systemic racism within the board, was the lone vote against the budget, which she branded “anti-equity” when it was debated earlier in the summer.

Upon the final budget approval in July, McDonald said she had “grave concerns regarding the allocation of funds.” The most glaring was the nearly $1.5 million increase in the board’s innovation and internal programs department, while other departments were being “decimated.”

“I’ve been inundated with concerns from parents regarding cuts directly impacting students and their basic needs. How can we be innovative if our students don’t have basic literacy skills?” she asked trustees around the table. “I cannot in good conscience support this increase in budget for innovation which appears to be at the expense of supporting essential basic needs for students.”

The PDSB, which serves more than 150,000 students in 262 schools across Brampton, Caledon and Mississauga, has had a longstanding problem with fostering an environment plagued by racism. A blistering review by the Province in 2020 revealed just how severe the situation was. It found Black students, in particular, were routinely disciplined for acts such as wearing a hoodie or hoop earrings, while white students who did the same faced no repercussions.

Black students were routinely streamed into non-academic classes, reducing their educational options after high school.  

After being stripped of their power four years ago following damning revelations exposed by a provincial review panel, which  found the board was failing to address ongoing systemic racism, governance powers were restored to trustees in January 2023.

Parents who had pushed to hold them accountable were skeptical that many of the trustees were committed to eradicating discriminatory practices. 

A statement in the recently approved budget document reads: “We focused on supporting our most vulnerable students, advancing equity and inclusion initiatives, maintaining high expectations for student achievement, fostering a safe and positive learning climate, and addressing increased cost pressures due to inflation.”

This contrasts some of what the document shows. 

This year’s budget highlights several cuts to departments critical to the learning and safety of PDSB students, including decreases in the board’s equity, special education, safety and well-being, and communication and engagement departments. The human rights office and planning and accommodations department also saw slight decreases. 

The most disturbing is the safety and wellbeing department, which saw over a $1.2 million decrease in its budget from the previous school year (from $5.7 million to $4.5 million). Meanwhile, the community and engagement budget was almost cut in half from approximately $3 million in 2023 down to $1.8 million in 2024, marking a $1.1 million decrease. The board’s equity department also saw nearly a $300,000 decrease in funding. While the special education budget shows an increase of roughly $300,000, it primarily accounted for salary increases. 

For years the board has faced widespread criticism for systemically marginalizing the very community members harmed by decades of racism and other forms of discrimination.

McDonald said the budget fails to meet the needs of gifted students and other students who require education assessments. Some are forced to wait more than two years to get assessed. 

“When I see what is being cut and who will be impacted it is anti-Black, anti-Indigenous and anti-equity.”

“There’s a reduction in equity, [special education], safety and well-being and community. I’m told it’s operational and to stay out but I cannot support a budget like that. It doesn’t adequately serve all its members.” 

During budget deliberations, she also voiced concerns over the absence of transparency – a theme that has persisted across the institution – around the board’s legal fees, which saw an increase of $350,000.

“I’ve been trying to ascertain the number spent on legal fee settlements and to date I’ve not been able to get a definite answer,” she said. “This is totally unacceptable and it's not transparent. This fund is taking away from student learning. Again, we have to remember why we were under supervision (by the provincial government). A $350,000 increase in legal fees does not sit well with me, especially fresh out of supervision. This money should be better served on students.”

The board was put under supervision after the provincial review led the Ministry of Education to hand down 27 Directives following its investigation of the school board when community members whose children were forced to endure systemic anti-Black racism and other forms of discrimination demanded intervention.

Former minister of education Stephen Lecce previously mandated 27 anti-racism Directives for the board to initiate before it could regain its governance control.

(Government of Ontario) 

A progress report presented earlier this year as part of the Ministry’s directives found Black and Indigenous students continue to be two times as likely to face suspension and expulsion, compared to their overall representation in the student body. It revealed that racialized students are being suspended at the same rate as in the 2019-2020 academic year, when the Province investigated systemic discrimination within the PDSB. 

An Employment Systems Review and workplace census completed in March 2023 and obtained by The Pointer in August that year found that staff within PDSB were actively working against the Ministry’s mandate, sabotaging efforts to improve diversity, equity and inclusion. It revealed that many employees continued to believe the work does not benefit students or their learning experience. Amid the alarming results that found racialized staff and students continued to face systemic barriers, a discriminatory work culture, inequity in hiring processes and the PDSB’s worrying inability to address concerns from staff regarding these and many other issues, the report issued 108 recommendations to the board. It ultimately found the PDSB continues to fight change, with many educators and administrators protecting the status quo.

While the latest budget document shows funding reductions in key areas that are crucial to student learning, McDonald stressed that the children being affected are lower income and marginalized students. 

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @mcpaigepeacock

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