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More than 600 elementary teaching positions at the Toronto District School Board are set to be eliminated for the upcoming school year.

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The staffing cuts, proposed by Premier Doug Ford’s government, would see 483 teaching positions — nearly one-fifth of the workforce — out of a job come September.

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Also on the chopping block are 145 elementary teachers employed in model schools — which serve communities identified as having the highest needs — as well as 72 English as a second language educators and nine teacher librarians.

TDSB supervisor appointed in 2025

In June 2025, the province’s Ministry of Education appointed finance professional and former Metrolinx adviser Rohit Gupta as the supervisor of the Toronto District School Board following an audit of the board’s financial health. The audit found a deficit of $11.3 million for the 2024–25 school year and a projected $58 million deficit for 2025–26.

In recent days, the school board provided the Elementary Teachers of Toronto, a local of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, the long-delayed information on elementary staffing levels for the upcoming school year.

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That information is usually provided to the public in early March by school trustees so that parents and communities can address staffing issues ahead of the upcoming school year.

However, that process has been eliminated under Gupta’s supervisory role.

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Union raises alarm bells over cuts

Following news of the upcoming staffing reductions, the union says it is raising alarm bells over the loss of hundreds teaching positions.

“This is a dismantling of essential supports that students rely on every day,” ETT President Helen Victoros said in a statement Tuesday. “The scale of these cuts will be felt in every classroom and in every community across Toronto.”

According to the union, model schools have received additional staffing for several years to reduce class sizes and provide targeted supports for students.

But those approximately 150 educators are being eliminated from classroom across the city.

Victoros said those cuts “will hit hardest in those schools where students already face systemic barriers.”

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Education system overhaul

Last week, Education Minister Paul Calandra said the province is overhauling the education system after the Ford government unveiled its provincial budget.

“What we’re doing is refocusing the education system on students, parents and teachers,” Calandra said at Queen’s Park on April 1. “That is why this budget gives us an extra $750 per teacher on top of the existing supports for classroom education because we want to focus our resources in the classroom.”

But the NDP’s Jessica Bell, who represents University—Rosedale, is condemning the job losses at the Toronto school board.

“TDSB students are already packed into overcrowded classrooms in rundown schools, thanks to eight years of Doug Ford’s funding cuts,” Bell said in a statement.

“These latest cuts will see class sizes increase and student supports disappear, all while parents continue to hear silence from the Conservatives’ overpaid, unqualified, hand-picked supervisor. These attacks on our children’s education must end.”

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