Ontario School Boards Face a Test of Power, Trust and Classroom Control
Ontario school boards are at the center of a widening fight over who should steer public education, after the province tabled proposed changes that would reshape oversight, tighten trustee roles and expand central authority in the system. For teachers, the question is not only about structure, but about whether local voices will still matter in decisions that affect students and families every day.
What is changing in Ontario school boards?
The proposed changes are part of the Putting Student Achievement First Act, 2026, tabled in the legislature on Monday. Under the bill, the role of school board trustees would be severely curtailed, while a Chief Executive Officer would take responsibility for financial and operational matters, including budgets and staffing. A Chief Education Officer would also be added, with a focus on student achievement.
The plan would also eliminate almost all expense accounts for trustees, cap trustee honorariums at $10, 000, and reduce the number of trustees to no more than 12 per school board. That cap would affect the Toronto District School Board, which currently has 22 trustees. The province says the changes are meant to strengthen accountability and create a more consistent learning experience.
Why are teachers rejecting the bill?
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario says it is rejecting the bill, calling it a rollback of local democracy., the federation said the legislation removes the essential powers trustees need to genuinely represent families and students. David Mastin, President of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, said retaining trustees except for some in the Toronto District School Board is another example of Premier Ford’s unhealthy obsession with Toronto.
The federation also said the bill needlessly restructures school board governance and erodes democracy in the education system. It argued that the proposed shift toward ministerial directives strips educators of the professional judgment they rely on to meet students’ needs. The group said schools are not businesses, pushing back on what it sees as a business-style management structure being applied to public education.
Ontario school boards are also at the center of the bill’s labour and classroom proposals. The plan would make the Council of Ontario Directors of Education the central employer bargaining agency for English public and Catholic boards, which the federation says upends decades of established labour relations and removes a core democratic safeguard.
How does the province defend the move?
Paul Calandra, Minister of Education, said Ontario’s education system must remain focused on student success and argued that some boards have lost that focus. He said students are paying the price in places where the system has been weakened by financial mismanagement and poor decision making. The province also points to eight school boards placed under provincial supervision since 2025 and to recent Education Quality and Accountability Office results showing progress in reading, writing and math, while saying more work remains.
Officials say the proposed legislation would define roles more clearly, strengthen accountability and close gaps in oversight. The government says its goal is to direct every dollar into classrooms and support practical skills for good-paying, stable careers. The bill would also require the mandatory use of ministry-approved classroom resources provincewide and include attendance and participation as factors in final marks.
What happens next for families and students?
For families, the immediate effect is uncertainty over how much influence trustees will retain if the bill passes. For students, the debate reaches into daily school life: who approves resources, who oversees staffing, and how much room teachers have to shape learning around individual needs. The province frames the bill as a step toward consistency; teachers see a warning sign that local accountability is being narrowed.
Ontario school boards now sit at the center of that tension. In one direction is a model built around stronger central control and tighter oversight. In the other is a system that teachers say should preserve local democracy and professional judgment. However the legislature moves next, the question left hanging is whether the public will see this as reform that steadies education, or as a shift that changes who gets to be heard when school decisions are made.
