TDSB INVESTIGATION SERIES - Part 1
DISMANTLING THE BOARD
TDSB Investigation — Part 1: When Oversight Fails
“In the past, the board, even when under supervision, held open door meetings. Now, trustees are dismissed. We’re warned not to speak to the public or staff.” — Trustee Michelle Aarts, Ward 16 (Beaches-East York)
SECTION 1: DEMOCRACY ON MUTE
The Toronto District School Board is currently being overseen by a Ministry-appointed supervisor who, by all internal accounts, is operating behind closed doors. Trustees say they are sidelined, warned against engaging with parents or even TDSB staff. Public meetings have disappeared. Transparency has withered.
But don’t mistake this for fiscal rescue. According to Trustee Michelle Aarts (Ward 16), what’s unfolding is not a budgetary solution — it’s a political maneuver that threatens both educational quality and democratic accountability.
“Good governance is based in laws and human rights — not swayed by partisanship, cronyism, or the loudest voice in the room.” — Aarts
SECTION 2: MINISTRY-CREATED DEFICITS
Contrary to the narrative of runaway trustee spending, many of the TDSB’s financial problems stem from how the Ministry of Education allocates money.
Take staffing, for example. The Ministry funds roles based on teacher salary equivalents — not the actual wages of specialized staff like librarians or educational assistants.
“If the Ministry allocates funding for 200 positions, it’s based on the provincial wage structure of 200 teachers. But if you need 200 librarians — whose pay is different — that money only covers around 180 librarians.” — Aarts
The same problem applies to Early Childhood Educators, Special Education, and maintenance and mental health staff. These shortfalls create structural deficits that compound year after year. When trustees attempt to shift resources to meet real needs, they are accused of overreach.
Statutory employer contributions like CPP and EI are not fully funded by the Ministry. The board is legally obligated to pay them — but receives no proportional offset. A budget structurally destined to fall short.
The Ontario Auditor General’s December 2024 report on school board governance identified staffing imbalances across boards, including differences in administrative capacity that affect oversight and financial management. The Ministry’s response emphasized governance failures rather than addressing the structural funding and staffing constraints the report identified.
Source: December 2024 Annual Report, Office of the Auditor General of Ontario —
https://www.auditor.on.ca
Additional documentation on structural deficits is drawn from TDSB’s own budget reporting:
Budget Report: https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Leadership/Agendas,MinutesDecisions.aspx?Type=A&Folder=Agenda%2f20250326&Filename=5.4.pdf
Structural Deficit Presentation: https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Leadership/Agendas,MinutesDecisions.aspx?Type=A&Folder=Agenda%2f20250326&Filename=250326+Structural+Deficit+Update.pdf
SECTION 3: DISCRETIONARY SPENDING — A RED HERRING?
While some spending lines deserve public oversight, the scrutiny often misses the broader issue: use-it-or-lose-it funding structures.
If a budget line isn’t fully used, it risks being cut the following year. This creates a perverse incentive to exhaust funds regardless of need — boards spend to protect future budgets, not because spending is necessary.
Trustee budgets include provisions for community outreach, transportation to board events, and meals when meetings run late.
“When meetings run until midnight, sometimes trustees make a food run. That $20 McDonald’s receipt gets scrutinized — while massive structural deficits go unaddressed.” — Aarts
The real issue isn’t whether a trustee spent $20 at a drive-thru. It’s whether the system is designed to fail — and whether the province benefits politically from that failure.
SECTION 4: TWO-TIERED EDUCATION, BY DESIGN
Aarts is direct about the inequity built into the current system. Some schools thrive — thanks to legacy investments, strong parent councils, and political favour. Others fall behind.
“Ideally, every high school in Toronto should offer an equally strong education — so parents don’t feel they have to send their kids across the city to access diverse programs.” — Aarts
The TDSB has evolved into a patchwork system where access to specialty programs — STEM, arts, trades — and safe, well-maintained buildings is tied to geography and political pressure. Parents are making choices with their feet. The province is using declining enrollment as justification for further centralization rather than addressing the underlying inequality.
SECTION 5: THE SCHOOL CLOSURE MORATORIUM — POLITICS OVER PRACTICALITY
In 2018, the Ford government introduced a moratorium on school closures as a campaign promise to rural voters. That moratorium has never been lifted — despite having no basis in educational best practice or effective system management.
At the TDSB, the consequences are significant. The board operates 110 secondary schools in a system that realistically needs 80 to 85. Schools with fewer than 400 students cannot offer a full breadth of programming, and families actively seek alternatives when a school is severely undersized.
The moratorium prevents the TDSB from right-sizing the secondary system, repurposing underused schools, building new ones where needed, or innovating with programming. It costs tens of millions annually in operating expenses for under-capacity buildings — costs the board cannot avoid and the Ministry will not address.
This is not a logistical bottleneck. It is a policy trap with no exit — one designed at Queen’s Park and downloaded onto every board in Ontario.
SECTION 6: WHAT COMES NEXT
Trustees Michelle Aarts and Kevin Morrison have agreed to go on record. What is clear is that public education in Toronto is being reshaped behind closed doors — and the people elected to represent families in that process have been warned to stay silent.
As Aarts put it directly:
“Partisan interference by a single politician or centralization for political interests has nothing to do with innovation, best practices, or local voice — and will quite literally take the entire education system backwards.”
Future segments will examine the audit findings, the governance shift, the silencing of elected officials, and what measurable changes have followed supervision.
What started as a quiet supervision order turned out to be something far larger — a test case in how democracy can be quietly suspended.
→ Read Part 2: The Money Trail
Not Canada too? 😢