Ontario limiting, not axing, the role of school board trustees

TORONTO — The role of school board trustees in Ontario is set to be sharply reduced under legislation tabled Monday that stops short of earlier musings from the education minister about doing away with the positions, though critics say it’s a concerning centralization of power.

Paul Calandra tabled a bill that would cut the number of trustees at the Toronto District School Board nearly in half, diminish trustees’ budget responsibilities at English-language boards, and mostly remove their role in central bargaining.

The proposed changes come in advance of municipal elections in October, and leave trustee positions at the eight boards Calandra has placed under provincial supervision in a sort of limbo.

Calandra has signalled he was keen on a school board governance shake up since not long after he came into the portfolio one year ago, zeroing in on trustees. Amid the eight school board takeovers he said he couldn’t see ever handing the boards currently under supervision back to trustees and was looking closely at eliminating the position of trustee entirely.

Instead, Calandra is introducing a package of reforms that he said would focus their mandate, while ensuring more stable leadership and stronger accountability.

“I wanted to ensure that we removed the distractions that come from trustees from the system, so the new roles of a trustee will be significantly reduced from what it was before,” he said at a press conference.

“I will not hesitate to continue to look at the role of the trustees. Should more refinement be needed to refocus trustees, even after this legislation, on simply representing parents and students, then I’ll take further actions.”

The proposed changes largely leave the role of trustees at French-language boards alone.

The president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association said she is “deeply concerned” by the bill removing authority over budgets and bargaining.

“At a time when Ontario should be strengthening public education, these changes point to increased centralization and a growing distance between Queen’s Park and the communities they serve, making it harder for local voices to be heard,” Kathleen Woodcock wrote in a statement.

Under the banner of accountability, the government says the bill would cap trustees’ honorariums at $10,000, ban school boards from paying certain fees for trustees to belong to certain organizations and for costs to attend “non-essential” conferences, and limit trustees’ discretionary expenses.

Calandra has in particular singled out the expenses of trustees as evidence of a need for governance changes, and the bill would prevent trustees from billing taxpayers for personal accessories and “unnecessary” travel, meal and hospitality expenses, for example.

Four trustees with the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board racked up $190,000 of the public’s money for a trip to Italy to buy art for schools, a provincial governance review found. That included $63,000 to manage the fallout of the trip once it was exposed by the Brantford Expositor.

As well, Calandra has taken aim at expense claims for a $145 Apple watch band and a $15 milkshake by one Toronto Catholic District School Board trustee.

That trustee, Markus de Domenico, said he was relieved to hear trustees aren’t being eliminated, and in boards not under supervision they will still be able to represent the voices of students and parents.

“The role itself is going to change,” he said in an interview. “It’s not terrible, but it’s going to be an adjustment.”

The bill would also limit the number of trustees at a board to 12, a change that would only affect the TDSB, which has 22 trustees, though it is one of the boards currently under supervision so those trustees are currently sidelined.

Trustee positions are included in the October municipal elections, and residents in the areas covered by boards under supervision will face the prospect of voting for trustees who may not be able to do their jobs. Calandra said supervision will not be lifted just because elections are looming.

“Those boards will remain under supervision for as long as it takes to put them back on the right track, full stop,” he said.

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said the moves in the bill fit with other recent measures by Premier Doug Ford’s government to consolidate power, including giving regional chairs it appoints additional powers.

“The minister thinks he can run everything from an office at Queen’s Park, and if you look at that bill all the way through, (it’s) exceptionally prescriptive, but it’s not fixing the things that are broken,” he said.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said making the remaining TDSB trustees responsible for double the amount of schools, capping the honorarium, and leaving that board and others under supervision makes it seem like he is trying to dissuade people from running for trustee roles.

“I think that what Paul Calandra is doing with this bill is essentially doing away with the role of trustees in as much as he’s making it much, much harder for anybody to take on that role and in a meaningful way,” she said.

Calandra’s proposed changes also target collective bargaining, mostly taking trustees out of the process. Right now, trustee associations negotiate on behalf of school boards in teacher and education worker contract talks, but the bill would hand that role to senior staff, with the Council of Ontario Directors of Education becoming the bargaining agent for English public and Catholic boards.

The French public and Catholic trustee associations would continue to be involved in bargaining, and English Catholic trustees would have a limited role for denominational issues.

English public and Catholic boards would see a new executive position in the form of a chief education officer. The current position of director of education would become chief executive officer, and that CEO would be able to hire a chief education officer, someone who would need an education background. Officials say that separates the business and educational sides of board leadership.

The chief education officer is expected to be chosen from among existing superintendents, Calandra said.

Trustees could hire, but not fire, the CEO. The minister of education would have to approve termination.

The CEO would also lead school board budget development, under the proposed changes. If trustees can’t reach an agreement, the minister would have the power to make a decision.

In the classroom, the government is planning to mandate that teachers use approved learning resources, such as lesson plans, teacher guides and digital interactive tools including games and presentations. Attendance would account for a percentage of students’ final marks in high school.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2026.

Allison Jones, The Canadian Press