The Ontario Public School Boards’ Association says the Ontario government’s bill 33 threatens the role of locally-elected trustees.
At this week’s board meeting, the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board discussed the OPSBA’s stance on the bill, which the association discussed at length during their two-day meeting in September.
Bill 33, or the Ontario government’s Supporting Children and Students Act, is currently at second reading in the legislative assembly and multiple debates have occurred over the past three days. The bill proposes changes to the Child, Youth and Family Services Act; the Education Act; the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act and the Ombudsman Act.
Proposed amendments to the Education Act include granting the education minister power to order an investigation in the public interest into a school board, power to assume control of a school board if it does not comply with the minister’s direction and power to establish policies and guidelines regarding expenses.
In a statement, OPSBA president Kathleen Woodcock said locally-elected school board trustees are accountable to the communities they serve, rather than the government.
“Bill 33 threatens to replace local accountability with political control in the hands of one person in Toronto,” she said.
“When local voices are silenced, students and families are the ones who lose.”
