海角社区官网

The board is among five being targeted by the province for financial issues, and Calandra has previously announced he was sending in an investigator to look at Toronto’s books.

He accused the board of going after students by suggesting closing pools or firing itinerant music teachers instead of cutting administration.

“What they didn鈥檛 say is, ‘We鈥檙e going to look at the record number of superintendents who are littered all over the Sunshine List.’ They went from 3,000 to 8,000 people on the Sunshine List. ‘We鈥檙e not looking at that at the TDSB.’ Why? Because the TDSB and the trustees are all about protecting themselves at the expense of students, at the expense of teachers.”

To trustees, he added, “let me be very clear. Do the right things for students; do the right things for teachers. If you don鈥檛, I鈥檒l take you over and I鈥檒l put the board back on track.”

Board chair Neethan Shan said trustees have already cut tens of millions from the budget in recent years but are nonetheless 鈥渃ommitted to finding further savings and efficiencies as we work through the budget process in the weeks ahead.鈥�

However, he added, 鈥渄espite this ongoing work, it must be said that we continue to face significant financial challenges including unfunded increases in statutory benefits, teacher salaries higher than ministry funding benchmarks, and the provincial moratorium on school closures 鈥� not to mention, a growing gap in per-student funding from the ministry when inflation is taken into account.鈥�

The government has touted its record level of education funding, which now sits at about $29 billion. School boards, however, say when inflation is factored in, per-student funding is down by about $1,500 at a time they are facing increasing costs聽鈥� some of them mandatory, including employment insurance.聽

Liberal MPP Jonathan Tsao (Don Valley North) said it is time the government “commit to properly funding” the board.

“While I agree that fiscal responsibility matters, we also can鈥檛 ignore the real challenges facing the students across the (海角社区官网public board) ... due to chronic underfunding,” Tsao said.

“Parents and teachers in my riding are deeply 鈥� deeply 鈥� concerned about the impact of the inaction of this government over the past seven years, especially on special education, IT programs, and opportunities in music, drama, sports and the arts. On top of that, aging infrastructure only adds to these pressures.”

Trustees at the TDSB, among the largest school boards in North America, voted Wednesday at a special meeting to direct Shan to “continue to seek to engage the minister of education with urgency regarding the need for budget 2025 and education funding for 2025-26 to address the growing inflationary gap in per pupil education funding, special education funding, and other areas.”

Some parents have urged the board to not cut staff or delay distributing Chromebooks to students, and instead pressure the government to provide additional funds.聽

The board initially faced a $70.3 million deficit that was lowered to $58 million after the federal government eliminated the carbon tax. Almost $44 million of the shortfall is attributed to statutory Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance increases.