Uncertainty looms over Ontario’s public schools

There are uncertainties and questions as the school year is set to open on Tuesday, September 8^th. The academic year 2025–2026 was a turbulent one as the Ministry of Education consolidated its power by taking over seven provincial school boards. Through its centralization of power, it has diminished the role of democratically elected trustees, cut back programs and services, and laid off hundreds of teachers and education workers across Ontario. This does not bode well for the future of public education in Ontario as parents, educators, education officials and important stakeholders remain wary about what is at stake.

The fact that contracts expired on Monday, August 31^st, 2026, for all the education unions, and contract talks between the government and unions have broken off, has added to the uncertainties. This prompted five unions: L’Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO); Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU-CSCSO); Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO); Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECTA); and Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation (OSSTF/FEESO), to release a joint statement. It was titled, “Calandra’s bargaining bluster falls flat against dire challenges in publicly funded education.” The letter outlines specific concerns as they look forward to the new school year, 2026–2027, with serious reservations about what will happen.

Matias De Dovitiis, a trustee for the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) who is running for re-election, listed cuts that resulted from the provincial takeover of the board. He mentioned them on his Facebook page on Wednesday, August 12^th, 2026. They include the following:

• Educational assistants decreased from 852.5 last year to 754 in September.
• All 370 noon-hour assistants for students with developmental disabilities and diagnostic kindergarten are gone in September.
• All 74 lunchroom supervisors for Mild Intellectual Disability are gone by September.endthewaitontario

It was noted that “Elected trustees chose not to make these cuts in previous years, so Doug Ford’s Ministry of Education is bypassing the democratically elected board. They are all frontline workers that directly make schools safer communities and a better learning environment.”

There have been many responses, feedback and criticism of Bill 101: Putting Students First Act, which received royal assent in early May 2026. It is now law and takes effect starting the 2026–2027 school year. Teachers’ unions, trustees, school officials as well as advocacy groups such as Parents for Black Children (PfBC) are concerned by its implications on public education. Some of the issues highlighted are:

• Surveys tracking anti-Black racism in schools are now gone.
• School budgets are now controlled by a provincial appointee with no requirement to understand equity, anti-Black racism or systemic discrimination.
• Teachers restricted from using Black-centered and anti-racist materials.
• Students lose grades when suspended. Black students are suspended more than 2x the rate of white students.
• School boards silenced from speaking about anti-Black racism.socialplanningtoronto

The joint letter from the education unions starts off with this statement. It notes, “Despite Minister of Education Paul Calandra’s many assurances that we would have collective agreement in place before Labour Day, teachers and education workers across Ontario will welcome students back next week without new contracts.” There were several attempts by the unions to start bargaining early in March, but these were stymied by Minister Calandra. The letter notes that he was optimistic that a deal could be finalized before Labour Day. For the unions, this showed that he was not aware of what bargaining involves. It mentions that he was:

• out of touch with the state of Ontario’s publicly funded education
• unfamiliar with the complexity of the bargaining process

One of the challenges for the government has been conflating bargaining at the provincial and local level. The letter notes, “The Ford Conservatives’ push to centralize decision-making at the provincial level during this round of bargaining is not surprising. Alongside the employer bargaining agencies, the government had attempted to push long-standing local bargaining items into negotiations despite clear opposition.” For the unions these are integral to core working conditions. They include:

• staffing timelines related to transfer
• surplus and redundancy
• local professional development funding

For the unions these are problematic because, “Moving these items to the central table could strip local autonomy, weaken the ability of our schools to address the specific needs and circumstances of our members, students and school communities; and further centralize power at Queen’s Park at a time when publicly funded education is already under immense strain.”

The letter concludes by listing what the 275,000 teachers and education workers deserve. They include:

• a government that respects our expertise and experience as well as the bargaining process, not one that undermines our work or wastes public dollars on attack ads.
• an education minister who understands the dire realities of publicly funded education and is willing to engage in good faith negotiations to address them.catholicteachers

There are uncertainties and confusion in the Ontario public education system as the school year starts. Parents, guardians and varied stakeholders have raised alarm about what will certainly be turbulence, chaos and disruptions in the days ahead.

Anyone interested in reading the full statement can check the website: https://www.etfo.ca/news-publications/media-releases/joint-statement-calandras-bargaining-bluster-falls-flat