To Premier Doug Ford, Minister Paul Calandra and the Government of Ontario,
Your recent decision to take control of four school boards and eliminate elected trustee representation is an alarming and undemocratic overreach. If your government is concerned about the financial health of our school boards, you should look in the mirror. This funding crisis was really created at Queen’s Park. You have systematically defunded, destabilized, and devalued public education in Ontario. This move doesn’t address the real problems facing Ontario’s education system - it distracts from them.
Since 2018, Ontario schools have been underfunded by $6.3 billion, with per-student funding still below 2018–19 levels. When adjusted for inflation, schools are receiving an estimated $1,500 less per student. In Toronto, the impact is even more severe: TDSB funding has dropped by $400 per student, while TCDSB funding is down by $370 per student compared to 2018–19, further straining our already overburdened schools. This isn’t just a budget issue, it’s a deliberate attack on our education system.
In your first year in office, you cancelled $100 million in school repair funding, leading to increasingly unsafe and inadequate school facilities. There are now 5,000 fewer classroom educators than there were in 2018, causing daily teacher and staff shortages. Class sizes have grown, making the learning environment worse for both students and teachers.
This government has cut hundreds of special education roles and drastically limited funding for children with autism through the Ontario Autism Program (OAP), leading to a waitlist of over 60,000 families waiting for core services and support. This is not “efficiency”, it's abandonment.
Elected school board trustees are the voices of their communities and ensure public accountability in education. Removing them silences communities, especially the most vulnerable.
Right now students are overheating without air conditioning in the summer, music programs are being slashed, school pools are getting shut down, and critical services for children with special needs are disappearing. This crisis was not sudden. It is the result of years of your efforts to undermine school boards’ effectiveness and capacity. If you truly care about students, restore funding and respect the democratic representatives that empower our communities.