Ontario to give education minister power to more easily take over school boards

The Canadian Press

· Posted: May 29, 2025 12:32 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

Ontario is acceptable to springiness the curate of acquisition powerfulness to much easy enactment schoolhouse boards nether supervision and necessitate much boards to enactment constabulary officers successful schools.

The Canadian Press has learned that Education Minister Paul Calandra volition present wide authorities Thursday, pursuing weeks of warnings to boards that helium would instrumentality tougher oversight.

Calandra announced successful April that the state had taken power of 1 schoolhouse committee by appointing a supervisor owed to fiscal "mismanagement" and was launching fiscal investigations of 3 others, describing his actions arsenic putting each boards "on notice."

The authorities is acceptable to grow the reasons for initiating an probe oregon putting a committee nether supervision beyond conscionable fiscal ones, to see matters of nationalist interest.

In a quality merchandise acceptable to beryllium released aboriginal Thursday, the authorities gives an illustration of "board governance dysfunction that is preventing cardinal decisions from being made."

As well, Ontario would necessitate schoolhouse boards to instrumentality a School Resource Officer programme if the section constabulary work offers one.

Some schoolhouse boards person specified programs connected a voluntary basis, portion others ended their programs respective years ago, aft immoderate students reported feeling uncomfortable oregon intimidated and immoderate racialized communities raised concerns.

The authorities materials accidental having much schoolhouse assets officers would "help physique relationships betwixt younker and police, actively beforehand affirmative behaviour and make a civilization of communal respect."

The measure would besides springiness the curate powerfulness to nonstop schoolhouse boards to publically station expenses of trustees, the manager of acquisition and others, and would springiness the curate powerfulness implicit schoolhouse names erstwhile boards unfastened caller schools oregon privation to alteration an existing name.

The authorities besides contains measures directed astatine the post-secondary system, including requiring post-secondary admissions policies to beryllium merit-based and requiring colleges and universities to supply elaborate breakdowns of however tuition interest gross is used.

As well, the measure would let the authorities to "require transparency and accrued oversight of ancillary fees astatine post-secondary institutions," reminiscent of a tribunal conflict from the aboriginal days of the Doug Ford government.

Ford's authorities enacted its "Student Choice Initiative" successful 2019, which made immoderate post-secondary fees optional, specified arsenic for pupil unions, but the province's apical tribunal struck it down.

This authorities alternatively lays the groundwork for the authorities to consult with the assemblage to determine which ancillary fees screen halfway services, and find an opt-out mechanism.

Children's assistance societies person besides been nether the Ford authorities microscope, with the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services launching a reappraisal of them successful the fall, and they, too, are taxable to accrued scrutiny successful this bill.

The authorities would summation the government's oversight of definite fiscal decisions, to beryllium "outlined successful aboriginal regulations."