The Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU) strongly opposes the Ford government’s introduction of the Putting Student Achievement First Act, legislation that strips power from elected school board trustees and hands it to unelected executives.
Under the proposed changes, trustees will lose control over key financial decisions, with new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Education Officer roles taking over school board budgets and operations.
“This is another blatant power grab by the Ford government,” said Joe Tigani, President of the OSBCU. “They’re sidelining democratically-elected trustees and replacing real community voices with officials not directly accountable to constituents. Let’s be clear—this has nothing to do with student learning.”
The legislation also caps trustee representation to 12 trustees per board and adds another layer of bureaucracy, further centralizing control at Queen’s Park while weakening local accountability.
“For 175 years, school board trustees have been accountable to their communities. You can question them, challenge them, and vote them out. That’s democracy,” Tigani said. “This government is keeping trustees in place as figureheads while stripping away their power.”
The OSBCU warns the changes are a distraction from the real crisis in Ontario’s education system.
“Our members are already overworked, schools are understaffed, and students aren’t getting the supports they need,” Tigani said. “We’ve called on this government to come to the bargaining table early to address these issues, and they’ve refused. Instead, they’re creating more bureaucracy while dodging
accountability.”
Tigani added that the union is deeply concerned about the long-term direction of these changes.
“We know what their goal is, to open the door to privatization of Ontario’s publicly funded education system,” Tigani said.
“The real issue isn’t governance — it’s chronic underfunding, overcrowded classrooms, and rising violence in schools. Taking power away from trustees doesn’t fix any of that. It just hides the government’s failure.”
The OSBCU is calling on the Ford government to reverse course, restore democratic oversight in school boards, and focus on properly funding public education and supporting students and workers across Ontario.