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TDSB posts $31M surplus in 2025, but not due to spending less

After three consecutive years in the red, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has posted a $31-million surplus for 2025 — more than three times larger than the $7-million surplus it had projected for the year, newly released financial statements show.

But despite the province appointing a supervisor to manage the TDSB, due in part to what education minister Paul Calandra described as years of “mismanagement,” the final surplus was not the result of lower spending.

During the year, the board spent nearly $100 million more than had been planned overall, including millions more spent than had been budgeted on instructional, administrative and school operational and maintenance costs. However, spending in 2025 was about $210 million less than in 2024.

These extra expenses in 2025, however, were accommodated largely by higher-than-anticipated funding from the provincial government. While the board had projected it would receive about $3.2 billion in core educational funding, it actually received about $3.4 billion.

The results come about six months after the province’s new supervisor, Rohit Gupta, took on the role.

TorontoToday contacted the Ministry of Education for comment on the board’s financial performance in 2025, but did not receive a response prior to publication.

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Matias De Dovitiis, a Toronto District School Board trustee who has previously run for the NDP, said it was hypocritical of Calandra to publish trustee expenses and not make his own available to scrutiny.

“I would like us to move on, but for the sake of transparency, it would be great (if he released his expenses),” he said.

“If he wants to set a moral standard, that’s amazing. But all of our expenses have to be publicly shared on our websites. If anyone ever wanted to look at my expenses, they could. They should be able to do the same for the minister.”

Parents, trustees slam TDSB supervisor’s decisions as ‘Trumpian,’ ‘undemocratic’

TDSB trustee Matias de Dovitiis said he believes Gupta’s approach to his two most recent decisions is a preview of the norm if the government decides to do away with trustees altogether. 

The province’s decision to appoint a supervisor took decision-making power away from the elected board of trustees. In recent days, Education Minister Paul Calandra said the government is considering making that set up permanent by eliminating trustees, and will reach a decision by the end of the year. 

De Dovitiis argued it would be a step in the wrong direction. 

“There should still be committee meetings. There should still be a process for communities to participate,” he said. “I don’t have to agree with 100 per cent of the decision a board makes, but there’s a process that at least gives recourse and space for explanation.” 

“This is a terribly undemocratic move that lacks transparency and accountability,” he said.