Axing school trustees: a cost-saving measure or attack on democracy?

Across Ontario, as the school year settles in, the mood inside the province’s education boards is anything but settling.

The PC government is considering the removal of elected school trustees, after education minister Paul Calandra criticized the long-standing school governance model as “outdated” and wasteful. Talk of eliminating trustees has triggered strong reactions from parents, advocates and opposition critics.

The proposed move has been called an attack on democracy. Removing an elected official meant to support parents and students in communities where voters determine who should directly represent them in all public education matters will only lead to tone deaf decisions by detached PC legislators who know little about schools with diverse needs across Ontario neighbourhoods, critics warn. 

"This is the same government that has defunded public education for as long as they have been in office. So why would we trust them to centralize management and governance of individual school boards?" David Bosveld, a parent advocate and the founder of the Black Education Fund, told The Pointer.

MPP Chandra Pasma, the NDP education critic, criticized the Ford government for shifting the blame to school boards and running away from their own failures to adequately invest in public education. 

"The Ford government has cut funding to our education system by more than $6.3 billion over the past seven years. So our education system is facing challenges like larger class sizes and program cuts and not enough support and mental health assistance for our kids," Pasma told The Pointer. 

Many agree that the PC government’s concerns around mismanaged finances are valid. For example, the Peel District School Board (PDSB), critics argue, has consistently failed to adequately fund the changes required to eradicate systemic discrimination identified by the ministry, while its 27 directives imposed on the PDSB have not been properly budgeted for, as Trustee Kathy McDonald recently pointed out when she refused to support the latest PDSB budget.  

Other advocates who spoke with The Pointer don’t believe the PC government can be trusted to adequately solve these issues due to its track record of underfunding public education for years.

Ontario already has a publicly funded school board without any elected trustees, and the evidence suggests eliminating them is not the answer the PCs are looking for. The Provincial Demonstrations School Branch is responsible for educating children who are deaf, blind, deafblind and with severe learning disabilities. As reported by The Pointer, the board is plagued with allegations of systemic abuse and mismanagement. Parents who have spoken with The Pointer have called for the creation of trustees within the board to create a level of accountability because as it stands, they have nowhere to turn.

For the PC government, several high-profile examples of wasteful spending recorded at Ontario school boards in recent years are the crux of their argument for reviewing the governance model. 

A week ago, Premier Doug Ford criticized trustees over lavish spending on foreign trips.

"Talk to the parents; the group of school boards decided it would be a great idea to go rent one of those hotels looking over the Blue Jays for what was it? $30,000 on the back of taxpayers' money,” he said, also referencing a 2024 trip to Italy taken by trustees at the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board which saw them purchase $100,000 of artwork for a school currently under construction. According to reporting by the Brantford Expositor, which obtained travel receipts and expense records, the trustees spent $100,000 while overseas on art pieces for a yet to be opened school in the Brantford area; racked up more than $28,000 in hotel bills and treated themselves to a $1,600 meal at a ritzy, 5-star restaurant and spa in the Dolomites—all on the taxpayer's dime. After the details came to light, the trustees promised to pay back the cost of the trip.

In January last year, The Pointer reported other examples of elected school board trustees and staff exploiting the taxpayer and eroding public trust by approving expensive retreats to themselves, including $32,000 spent by three staff members of the London Kent District School Board at a conference in Hawaii. 

The spending scandals prompted former education minister Jill Dunlop to launch a “governance review” of the boards. 

In June, financial reviews of five school boards, including Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB), revealed severe financial instability and wasteful spending, leading the PC government to place these boards under supervision.  

“Each of these boards has failed in its responsibilities to parents and students by losing sight of its core mission — ensuring student success,” Calandra said in June. “We’re strengthening oversight and accountability so that parents can have the confidence that every dollar is spent responsibly to directly benefit students. I have made it clear that if a school board veers off its mandate, I will take action to restore focus, rebuild trust, and put students first.”

Anyone looking for ammunition for the argument to eliminate education trustees need look no further than the PDSB. For years trustees and the senior administration refused to address practices and behaviours within the school system that were harming Black and visible minority students, seeing them streamed into education pathways that would limit their future post-secondary options, and being expelled and suspended at higher rates than other demographics within the board. It took dedicated advocacy from parents and advocates to force real change and trigger a provincial takeover in 2020. 

The bad behaviour extends beyond resistance to critical change. Parents were furious in late 2019 after it was revealed Trustee Will Davies called McCrimmon Middle School, a school with a large Black and visible minority population, “McCriminal”; he later apologized, but not before acting Chair and fellow trustee Sue Lawton (now retired) attempt to mislead parents, claiming the remark was never made. PDSB trustees have removed and barred advocates from meetings; taken legal action against critics on social media; and attempted to take back control of the board from the provincially-appointed supervisor, despite clear evidence they had still failed to implement the necessary changes. To this day, the board and trustees are still being criticized for failing to adequately invest in the measures to completely eliminate the anti-Black racism and other discriminatory practices at the board. 

Peel District School Board Trustee Will Davies hangs his head during a contentious board meeting discussing his discriminatory comments calling McCrimmon Middle School “McCriminal”.

(Joel Wittnebel/The Pointer files)

Would removing trustees eliminate these issues? Possibly. But the decision is more complicated than that. 

While the PCs are attempting to paint all trustees with the same brush, this is simply not the case. There are many examples of devoted, community-oriented trustees who are well known for their work—even within the heavily maligned PDSB. Trustee McDonald was a driving force, alongside former trustee Nokha Dakroub, behind the critical changes at PDSB, and has fought for years to eliminate discriminatory practices like streaming and other forms of anti-Black racism from the board and education system at large.

The Ontario government is also well aware of what a school board without trustees looks like. 

As reported through numerous investigations by The Pointer, the Provincial Demonstrations Schools have been plagued with allegations of systemic physical and sexual abuse and mismanagement for years. The Ontario government has paid out approximately $23 million in class-action settlements to avoid any admission of wrongdoing. There has been no review of this board, and no willingness from the PC government to address the disturbing issues. 

The Pointer previously detailed the plight of Jane, a student at the PDSB who was physically and sexually abused by a fellow student. She is currently suing the provincial government for the harm she endured that left her with a traumatic brain injury and misdiagnoses that severely harmed her educational journey. 

Despite the aggressive PC push to reform the larger public education system, they have routinely denied any issues with the Provincial Demonstration Schools Branch; and consistently refused to explain why no review of these serious issues has been initiated—even during this time of increased scrutiny on other boards. Last year, Dunlop did not rule out an audit of this scandal-plagued board, but there has been nothing but silence ever since.

It’s this inconsistent track record that has many advocates concerned the elimination of trustees will cause more harm than good. 

Bosveld has raised concerns about the provincial government’s lack of attention to systemic problems in Peel’s public schools for years. 

David Bosveld, a parent advocate and the founder of the Black Education Fund, lamented the Ford government for defunding public education and wasting taxpayer money on failed projects like the Greenbelt scandal and Ontario Place.

(Joel Wittnebel/The Pointer files)

"They've already de-emphasized the specific needs of special ed, Black and racialized students, and Indigenous education workers who work in the system,” he said. “And so I'd have real difficulty imagining this government making improvements to the system given this track record.”

MPP Chandra Pasma, the NDP education critic, criticized the Ford government for shifting the blame to school boards and running away from their own failures to adequately invest in public education. 

Pasma questions who will provide the community voice around the decision-making table and the representation that trustees are elected to deliver on behalf of students and their families, who routinely advocate for increased supports, special programming, smaller class sizes and equitable budgets that ensure all students have the same critical education opportunities to get ahead in Ontario. 

"But getting rid of the voice of families in the decision-making of schools doesn't address any of those things. So trustees are the way that parents are able to participate in the decisions affecting their children's schools. They consult with parents. They're elected by parents. They're accountable to parents because the parents can vote them out if they're not happy with them, and they are an advocate and a support for parents when they have questions or concerns about their child's schooling. And I think it's deeply disrespectful to parents to take away their voice and to take away their advocates and support."

She argues that the elimination of trustees will not fix a  system broken by the underfunding of successive PC governments.

“They are desperate to change the channel on their funding cuts. Parents can see what the impact of the past seven years has been on their children's schools and their children's education, and they're not happy because their kids aren't getting the support that they need,” Pasma emphasized. "I don't think getting rid of democracy is the solution to concerns about the behavior of some boards or some trustees. The Ford government has also failed in terms of strategic spending," she added, referencing the nearly $1 billion it will cost taxpayers after Ford’s decision to trigger an early exit from the long-term contract for alcohol sales with the Beer Store. 

“I don't support any solution that starts with ‘let's eliminate democracy.’”

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