Despite Toronto’s population boom over the past decade, the number of students enroled in the city’s public school system has declined since 2019. Now, parents want the school board to try harder to figure out why — and be transparent about what it learns.
Last month, the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) parent involvement advisory committee (PIAC) passed a motion asking the board to gather more information from caregivers who choose to remove their student from one of the board’s schools.
Dr. Mark Unger, a PIAC representative for University-Rosedale and Toronto Centre, said the motion was motivated in part by his own experience.
This fall, one of his children is attending a private school for the first time, following an issue at the family’s former TDSB school that was insufficiently resolved, he said.
Unger said several other parents similarly pulled their students from the school because of the same concern, but he said it would be challenging for the TDSB to have any insight as to why, because the board never asked when they departed.
Now, the Toronto parent said he’s hopeful for change.
In the committee’s motion, parents said they understand that some decline in school board numbers may be the result of the COVID-19 pandemic or demographic changes in Toronto, but raised other possible culprits, including frustrations with education quality, equity and school climate issues, or unmet learning needs.
Unger said he’s hopeful that by implementing a more systematic exit survey process, the TDSB can better identify patterns and implement changes that help retain students.
TorontoToday inquired with the TDSB as to whether it plans to implement the recommendations, but did not receive a response prior to publication. The Ministry of Education, which placed the TDSB under provincial supervision in June, similarly did not respond to questions.
https://www.torontotoday.ca/local/education/despite-toronto-population-growth-tdsb-enrolment-declined-11437995
Metro Morning interview on Tuesday, April 14th with Jill Dempsey, on the new changes by the Province to education.
Hit the link here to listen to the interview.
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.
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.”
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.
