Deborah Williams, Toronto District School Board Trustee, Ward 10 University-Rosedale and Toronto Centre –
Ontario’s public education system is more than a line item in a budget – it’s the foundation of our province’s prosperity. It prepares young people for the workforce, fuels innovation and ensures that every child, regardless of background, has a fair shot at success. Yet today, the institutions tasked with stewarding this system, elected school boards, are under threat.
The Ford government’s Bill 33 proposes sweeping changes and centralized control at Queen’s Park, stripping communities of their voice in education. On June 27, 2025 Education Minister Paul Calandra placed four more school boards under supervision, including the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). These moves signal a troubling shift away from local accountability and toward top-down control.
School boards aren’t perfect, but they are essential. They provide strategic oversight, reflect regional priorities, and ensure taxpayer dollars are invested where they matter most – in classrooms. Trustees are not faceless bureaucrats; they understand the unique needs of their communities, whether in downtown Toronto or Thunder Bay.
The Minister of Education and school boards need to have evidence-based collaborative discussions about the future of public education governance. Locally elected trustees are not the problem – they are part of the solution to ensure decisions are made with transparency and accountability to the communities they serve. What trustees don’t control is the amount of funding boards receive because funding lies with the provincial government. School boards are tasked with allocating increasingly inadequate resources to meet growing student needs. Undermining democratic oversight won’t fix underfunding – it will only deepen the disconnect between Queen’s Park and the classroom.
Centralized decision-making behind closed doors at Queen’s Park may be sold as efficiency, but it’s austerity in disguise, and the cost is paid by our communities. It silences community voice, shuts down innovation and ignores the diversity of Ontario’s regions. Local school boards have championed initiatives like STEM programs, Indigenous education, and mental health supports. These successes were born from community leadership.
The economic stakes are high. Every dollar invested in public education yields $1.30 in economic impact. A modest one per cent increase in graduation rates could add billions of dollars to Ontario’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Education funding per student has declined nearly 10 per cent when adjusted for inflation and enrollment growth. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has uncovered the funding gap: Ontario has underfunded schools by $6.35 billion since 2018.
The result? Longer wait times for support, fewer educators, large class sizes and cuts that directly affect student learning.
TDSB is the largest school board in Canada with an operating budget of approximately $3.7 billion. One of the most overlooked contributors to school boards’ structural deficit is the chronic underfunding of statutory benefits including Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Employment Insurance (EI). The provincial funding formula hasn’t kept pace. In 2024-2025 alone, TDSB had a $43.7 million shortfall due to rising costs of CPP and EI. Students with disabilities have long faced systemic barriers and impacts of underfunding. TDSB’s funding gap for special education is $38.5 million. Ontario’s public education system has been quietly starved of resources.
When we starve the system, we don’t just trim fat, we cut into bone. We lose teachers, librarians, special education assistants, early childhood educators, child and youth workers, social workers and psychologists, school safety monitors, administrators, and caring adults in schools – supports that help students thrive. And when students fall behind, the consequences ripple outward: higher unemployment, increased crime, and a weaker workforce.
Public education is not a cost to be minimized; it’s an investment to be optimized. Defending school boards is not a partisan issue, it’s a matter of economic foresight and democratic integrity.
A Call to Action
Let’s not allow short-sighted politics to undermine long-term prosperity. Contact Premier Doug Ford (premier@ontario.ca) and Education Minister Paul Calandra (minister.edu@ontario.ca). Demand that they:
● withdraw Bill 33 (now in second reading)
● fund education to match inflation
● fully fund statutory benefits (CPP, EI)
● fully fund special education and student supports
Copy your local MPP and school board trustee. Your voice matters.
