The TDSB, alongside other public and Catholic school boards, will be appointed a supervisor to oversee their financial conduct.Fred Lum/the Globe and Mail
The Ontario government has taken control of four school boards including in Toronto and Ottawa, a move the province says stems from concerns over large deficits, depleting reserves and widespread mismanagement.
Education Minister Paul Calandra announced Friday the appointment of supervisors at the Toronto District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, following investigations earlier this year.
Supervision in the public system gives a provincial appointee the power to run the board while trustees are stripped of voting power and their honorariums are suspended. For Catholic boards, trustees are still able to make decisions over denominational issues, but the honorarium is reduced.
The government says the takeovers are needed to address spending decisions and mismanagement that has not put students first. Trustees and board chairs say the government has underfunded education and forced them to make difficult choices.
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Speaking to reporters at Queen’s Park, Mr. Calandra said teachers should not be struggling for resources while some boards “continue to fund bloated central bureaucracies.”
“Our recent financial investigations have showed that these boards are running unsustainable deficits despite receiving similar stable funding as other boards across the province. All four investigations recommended immediate intervention,” he said.
Mr. Calandra said the supervisors will take a close look at how the boards are run, find savings and make changes to restore responsible management. He added that they will propose plans to bring the boards to a balanced financial position.
While most boards are “doing the right thing,” Mr. Calandra said even those with a surplus that are not making decisions in the best interest of students will have their funding redirected toward the classroom.
“All school boards across the province should be put on notice,” he said.
The province alleges that each of the four boards should be placed under supervision because of growing deficits and depleting reserves, and has exhibited “instances of mismanagement and poor decision-making that put its long-term financial health at risk.”
Kathleen Woodcock, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, said she was encouraged by Mr. Calandra’s statement that most boards are putting students first. She urged collaboration and asked supervisors to continue communicating with trustees.
But trustees say they have tried to address the province’s concerns, and that losing local voices will hurt students.
Markus de Domenico, chair of the Toronto Catholic District School Board, said in a statement he does not believe supervision is necessary, adding the board has made “tough but necessary decisions to improve our financial outlook while limiting the impact on classrooms.” He said the investigation into the board did not find financial mismanagement, but that the issues stem from chronic underfunding in key areas.
“While we respect the process ahead, we are concerned that the absence of trustees from key decision-making risks excluding students and parents from having a voice in matters that directly affect their schools,” he said.
Lyra Evans, an Ottawa school trustee and former chair of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, said the board has been trying to balance the budget and its decisions have made some people angry.
“It is disappointing that the minister doesn’t recognize that we cannot both meet our budgetary obligations and keep everyone happy, because his funding formula does not adequately meet the needs of students in Ottawa,” she said.
Kevin Morrison, vice-chair at the Toronto Catholic District School Board, said he learned about the appointment of supervisors at the same time as the rest of the province.
“We had actually gone to a lot of trouble to propose and present a budget that would balance itself eventually, but the minister obviously didn’t think that was good enough,” said Mr. Morrison. “I was disappointed. It’s heartbreaking.”
Ontario NDP education critic Chandra Pasma accused the government of chronically underfunding the education system and said the provincial supervisors are partisan appointees with no background in education. For instance, Rick Byers, who was appointed supervisor of the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, is a former Progressive Conservative MPP.
The province pointed to specific problems within each board, alleging the TDSB is not cutting costs as it should and relying on unsustainable proceeds from asset sales to balance its books.
The government says the Toronto Catholic board tripled its deficit compared with last year and is at risk of default in the coming years. The Ottawa-Carleton board, it says, has completely depleted its reserves, accumulated a deficit, and also plans to use unsustainable proceeds from asset sales to balance its books.
The province says the Dufferin-Peel Catholic board is at risk of financial default by the end of August.
The financial investigations of the Ottawa-Carleton and Toronto public boards, announced by the government in April, were conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, while Deloitte LLP led the investigation into the Toronto Catholic board. A similar investigation into the Dufferin-Peel Catholic board, led by the ministry, was launched on June 5.
Summaries of the investigations into the Toronto boards, posted on the government’s website, did not find serious financial mismanagement or deliberate wrongdoing, but said the school boards’ accumulated deficits met the threshold for ministry takeover.
In April, the province appointed a supervisor to oversee the Thames Valley District School Board in London after the board spent nearly $40,000 to send 18 administrators to a three-day retreat in Toronto last summer.
Also on Friday, Mr. Calandra announced that the government is pausing changes to the curriculum, including for kindergarten and math, for a year to give teachers time to prepare for the 2026-27 school year.