To address what the Ministry of Education called ongoing cases of financial mismanagement, the province's education minister took control last week of four school boards, including the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB).
Paul Calandra said that the boards, which also include the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) and Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board (DPCDSB), "failed" in their responsibility to parents and students by "losing sight" of their core mission: "ensuring student success."
Calandra said supervisors would be assigned to each board to address the alleged misspending, growing deficits and depleting reserves.
Windsor West NDP MPP Lisa Gretzky served as a trustee and former vice-chair of the Greater Essex Country District School Board (GECDSB) prior to being elected in 2014.
She says the province is attempting to create a problem where it doesn't exist.
"They're going to underfund the system, and then they're going to point the finger at trustees, and then they're going to point the finger at education workers, it's everybody elses fault, and it's their reason to then send in supervisors in, I believe it's Toronto, the supervisor they sent in there has absolutely no education background, none, came from Metrolinx I believe," Gretzky said.
The GECDSB recently tabled and approved the 2025-26 budget with a $988,924 deficit.
Something Gretzky says is all too common across the province.
"Just about, if not every single board, not just public, across this province are facing deficits but by law they have to table a balanced budget, and in some cases they can't do that without drastically reducing supports and services for students, and so what the government is now doing is trying to deflect by pointing the finger and saying 'it's the trustees fault and we're going to take it over'," Gretzky said.
Gretzky says the Ford government wants to centralize power but not take responsibility for the decisions its making.
"People in my community, and communities all across the province deserve to have democratically elected representatives who are available and able to answer questions and be responsible to the public for the community decisions, that's not what we're seeing," Gretzky said.
The province previously announced a record $30.3 billion in funding for schools next year, but teachers’ unions argued at the time that the funding doesn’t go far enough.
-With files from CTV News