By Tammy Raycraft,
Bruce Peninsula Press
The Ontario Government, led by Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Paul Calandra, has been taking over some of the province’s school boards and replacing elected trustees with a government-appointed Supervisor, who then takes over all decision-making power. Local democratic control is paused, and the province runs the board directly.
In Ontario, 750 thousand students now have their education under direct management of Minister Calandra, and his office. That means one third of students in publicly funded schools in Ontario have decisions made about their education with no local representation involved.
At a joint press conference led by the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) at Queens Park, Kathleen Woodcock, President of OPSBA, stated Ontarians want their local trustees. They want more local voice, not less, she said. “Centralized one size fits all mandates from Queens Park cannot account for the unique needs of schools in local communities,” she said. “When you eliminate the local voice, you reduce accountability and risk eroding public trust in Ontario’s valuable public education system.”
Jane Thomson, Chair and School Board Trustee, was elected to the Bluewater District School Board by Northern Bruce Peninsula and South Bruce Peninsula – which includes Hepworth, Sauble and Wiarton. Thomson has a special connection to the Northern Bruce Peninsula schools – her children attended Bruce Peninsula District School (BPDS) in Lion’s Head.
“My lens, and why I got into being a trustee in the first place, was to make sure the voices of the rural students were heard,” she said. “I am always that voice, and not just for the peninsula but for any of the outlying schools.”
Thomson said, while the government states that some boards don’t balance their budgets, the boards argue that they aren’t being adequately funded for what they are being asked to provide. “There is a gap, for example, in the number of EAs and the resources that are needed for the kids in the schools, because we’re funded for the number of students who attend the schools, and not for their needs,” Thomson said.
David Mastin, President of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario also spoke at the press conference at Queens Park. He stated since 2018 more than 6 billion dollars have been removed from public education in Ontario.
“When trustees elected specifically to represent local needs are sidelined, schools lose the insight and direct advocacy that come from people that understand their community,” Mastin said.
Beyond concerns of representation, Thomson pushed back against claims of financial mismanagement, arguing that public oversight already plays a key role in accountability.
“People argue that trustees don’t have a lot of authority and that’s true, the ministry sets the money. But I do sit on a lot of committees, and I watch a lot of people work and I understand that system,” she said.
Thomson added people from the public who are watching should be able to confidently say that people are working very hard with these dollars and no one’s misusing it.
“I’m very proud of Bluewater, very, very proud,” she said.
Thompson went on to say all their board meetings and committee meetings are public, where people can attend or watch online, but this is no longer the case with the supervised boards. “There won’t be the same transparency on how decisions are made,” she stated.
Municipal and school board nominations open May 1, but uncertainty around whether school board elections will proceed is creating instability ahead of the vote.
“There is a risk that public school trustees may not be elected in the fall,” Thomson said. “If people are concerned about that they should be in touch with MPP Vickers or the Minister of Education and let them know. Sometimes silence seems like acceptance.”
