The Ford government’s decision to keep trustees in place long-term — albeit with limited powers — will not mean the end of supervision at eight Ontario school boards, the education minister says.

But, despite keeping direct control of some of the largest school boards in the province, Paul Calandra said people should run for election to take their place if and when he ends supervision at the boards.

If candidates decide not to run, the minister said Monday, he’ll select people to fill the vacancies.

“If people choose not to run for that position and want to wait until we return the supervised boards to trustees, that’s fine,” he said. “The ministry has the statutory powers to fill those vacancies.”

On Monday, Calandra unveiled his long-awaited education reforms, keeping trustees in place across public, Catholic and French boards, but limiting their pay, expenses and say over the board’s annual budget.

The education minister said the new changes would not lead to an immediate end to supervision, with government appointees still running eight boards, including Toronto public, Toronto Catholic, Ottawa-Carleton, Peel public and Dufferin-Peel Catholic.

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“Those boards will remain under supervision for as long as it takes to put them back on the right track,” Calandra told reporters.

Elections for new trustees will take place in October, with only Toronto public seeing a cut to the number of trustees sitting on its board.

Even for boards that are under supervision, ballots will be cast for trustees. Those who win elections at supervised jobs will not receive any pay or responsibility until the government decides to end supervision.

Jill Promoli, an elected school board trustee in the Peel District School Board, said over the course of the provincial takeover, elected officials have heard very little from the Minister of Education directly.

“I have had no communication from the Minister of Education, absolutely nothing. So there doesn’t seem to be any respect from this minister for the elected role of trustee,” Promoli said.

The PDSB trustee was first elected in 2022, at a time when her board was under supervision following investigations into racism and discrimination in early 2020.

“This is the funny thing, too, putting boards under supervision is not a new thing,” she said.

“The Peel District School Board was under supervision, but trustees were not out of their roles. They had a diminished role, but they were still there. They were still able to attend meetings. They were supporting their community. And so when I was elected, I was selected to a board under supervision.”

The changes Calandra has tabled will reduce trustee responsibility over key financial decisions, something he said would “potentially” pave the way to ending supervision.

“But, as I said, there’s a lot of challenges in each of the supervised boards, for a lot of different reasons, not just financially,” he added.

“One board that you saw trustee infighting — more than one board — where trustee infighting basically was costing millions of dollars, in other instances, they were ignoring conflict of interest issues. They’re under supervision for a number of reasons.”

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The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) says there will be staffing cuts among teachers in the upcoming school year, but says the number will be lower than what the unions representing elementary and secondary school educators are saying.

The Elementary Teachers of Toronto (ETT) and Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF Toronto) said on Tuesday that numbers released by the TDSB show a total of 607 teaching staff would be cut.

But a spokesperson for TDSB told Global News in a statement the number of cuts is expected to be slightly less than 300. Spokesperson Ryan Bird said the cuts are a result of nearly 5,000 fewer students expected in the upcoming school year.

“When compared to the current number of elementary and secondary teachers in the TDSB, we anticipate approximately 289 fewer teaching positions,” Bird said in a statement. “It’s important to note that staffing continues to fluctuate right up until the new school year, so these numbers are not final.”

The number is stark from what ETT and OSSTF Toronto outlined, with about 483.5 elementary positions cut and 123.5 full-time equivalent secondary school roles to be eliminated.

According to numbers provided to Global News by ETT, about 254 of those roles proposed to be cut are elementary classroom teachers. Another 72 are those teaching students where English is their second language (ESL). OSSTF said there are 23 ESL staff being cut.

Another 145 elementary teachers will be cut from the board’s learning opportunities or “model school” program, which receives added staff supports, with 30 secondary teachers also eliminated. These schools are often found in lower-income neighbourhoods, but also can include First Nations, Inuit and Metis alternative schools.

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“The biggest impact is there will be less caring adults in the building,” said Michelle Teixeira, president of the OSSTF Toronto Teacher Bargaining Unit. “We know that the more adults in a building, the better outcomes of success for students.”

She added that with fewer staff, the remaining will face bigger class sizes.

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Elementary school teachers in Ontario to receive $750 cards to buy class supplies

Helen Victoros, president of ETT, told Global News the finger is being pointed directly at the provincial government.

Last August, Education Minister Paul Calandra announced Rohit Gupta would be tasked with overseeing the financial and operational management of TDSB.

“He will take the time needed to not only bring the board’s budget into balance, but also ensure long-term stability for years to come, so that funding goes where it belongs: directly into classrooms to support students and teachers,” Calandra wrote in a letter to the school community.

Victoros said that’s not what has happened.

“At that time when they took over, you know, they basically said that they wanted to deliver more resources to the classroom, but every indicator and every decision that we’ve seen them make since they took over has been exactly the opposite,” she said. “When we got these numbers, we were shocked.

“This is a wake-up call to every parent in the province that is not in a board right now under provincial takeover, that this is what happens when the minister takes over and the province takes over.”

Ontario NDP MPP and education shadow minister Jessica Bell condemned the decision to appoint Gupta, and said the proposed cuts would create more difficulty.

“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.”

Global News has reached out to Calandra’s office for comment on the cuts.

Victoros said if the number is much lower than the cuts they were told, as outlined by the TDSB, they would be pleased.

“All teachers, I think, and all the staff connected with the TDSB will be very, very happy if those numbers that they initially provided to us just a week and a half ago are wrong,” Victoros said.

Global News has requested a breakdown of the 289 cuts and how they are being allocated, including regarding “model schools” and ESL teachers.

There’s still skepticism, though, with Teixeira saying there’s been a lack of transparency over the numbers.

“Unlike in previous years, this information has not been shared on the website. There has been no public consultation, there has been no ability for trustees or the public to ask questions about the numbers,” Teixeira said.

It’s why Victoros said they’re urging the government to reverse the cuts and change the funding formula for schools “based on student needs.”

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