Education Minister Paul Calandra is planning sweeping changes to the province’s English school systems, including capping the number of elected trustees for boards and creating roles centred on both financial oversight and student achievement.

The changes are being instituted as part of what the province is calling the “Putting Student Achievement First Act,” which was introduced at Queen’s Park on Monday.

The bill would cut the number of trustees at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) nearly in half, diminish trustees’ budget responsibilities at English-language boards, and mostly remove their role in central bargaining. The proposed changes largely leave the role of trustees at French-language boards alone.

“Ontario’s education system must remain focused on its core responsibility: student success,” Calandra said in a news release. 

“In some school boards, that focus has been lost, and students are paying the price.”

The education minister has been hinting at changes to the system for quite some time, with the province putting eight boards under provincial supervision in recent months.

Critics have decried the minister’s actions as politically driven, saying most boards are struggling financially due to chronic provincial underfunding. 

Trustee roles remain

Calandra had suggested Ontario could do away with trustee roles altogether. Instead, the province has announced that it will “standardize the number of elected trustees to a maximum of 12,” alongside other changes like limiting trustee discretionary expenses and enhancing oversight for school board subsidiaries and their use of public money.

The new legislation also establishes two new oversight roles for English-language school boards, with the director of education now becoming known as the chief executive officer. That person would be responsible for financial and operational matters, and would be “required to have business qualifications,” according to the news release.

The second role would be a chief education officer, who would be appointed by the executive officer and who focuses on student achievement. That person would need to “hold pedagogical qualifications, including Ontario College of Teachers membership or equivalent,” the news release reads.

The legislation also states that the termination of a board’s chief executive officer would require the education minister’s approval to “help prevent reprisals and dismissals while they are carrying out their responsibilities.”

The province says the act would also “professionalize” school board bargaining by designating the Council of Ontario Directors of Education as the central employer bargaining agency for both public and Catholic English school boards to “ensure collective bargaining is led by professional school board staff who have expertise in the board’s operational matters.”

In the classroom, the government is planning to mandate teachers use approved learning resources, such as lesson plans, teacher guides and digital interactive tools including games and presentations.

On the practical side for students, the legislation also introduces mandatory written exams on “official exam days” for grades nine through 12, and promises “greater clarity on how students’ final marks are calculated.”

The province says that it will also require “attendance and participation” to be part of the final mark for students in Grades 9 through Grade 12, with attendance worth 15 per cent of that mark in 9 and 10, dropping to 10 per cent in Grades 11 and 12.