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The OSBCU Condemns Ford Government Power Grab Over School Board Governance

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.

OSBCU Report on the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development Initiative Workplace Violence in the Education Sector 2022-2023

Beginning in April 2022, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development (“MLITSD”, “the Ministry”) conducted a two-phase awareness and enforcement initiative to address workplace violence (“WV”) at Ontario’s K-12 School Boards. The enforcement phase of the initiative concluded on March 31, 2023. To guide its members in achieving meaningful outcomes from this initiative, the OSBCU provided resources and guidance to CUPE Locals in the sector prior to the inspection blitz.

Ministry enforcement inspectors conducted over 340 visits to schools and board offices in Ontario. They issued employers approximately 114 orders of non-compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (“OHSA”), including seven (7) requirements to provide documentation to inspectors. Still, we observed many instances where inspectors noted in their field visit report (“FVR”) areas of employer’s non-compliance with the OHSA but refused to issue orders. Instead, the inspectors allowed employers to self-comply in the circumstances.

The OSBCU collected and charted many of the inspector’s FVRs. Based on the reports and orders issued, we recommend the following for the OSBCU Executive, CUPE Locals in the K-12 sector, CUPE Joint Health and Safety Committee members and Health and Safety Representatives dealing with the
following:

For CUPE Locals, CUPE Health and Safety Representatives, Leads and Committee members:

  • To evaluate local school board risk assessment tools to ensure they consider general and specific risks of WV at the school/building level.
  • To evaluate the triggers school boards use to reassess the risks of WV.
  • To ensure school boards develop a program for each location where staff are exposed to a risk of WV.
  • Evaluating the means by which staff summon immediate assistance before and during incidents of WV to ensure their effectiveness.
  • Examine instances and review school board policies to reduce instances where staff use their personal cell phones to summon assistance for incidents of WV.
  • Review existing safety plans to ensure they are consistent with the results of workplace risk assessment and the contents of the employer WV policy and programs

View the full report »

Classification Forum Registration

While the school year comes to a close, the need for continuing to build worker power continues! In our spring forums we will be providing space for workers to discuss not only the issues at hand but will be providing insight on how to connect with people in our community to build power and support beyond our local and provincial spaces. Learn how to work with your trustees and be part of developing campaigns that reflect the needs of your classification for the upcoming school year. You can scan the QR codes for you classification forum or you can find them on OSBCU social media.