Ontario takes over Peel schools

Editor’s Note: Some of you my have missed this story when it first was pressed, but with school ending, I would be curious if anything has been resolved…

Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra’s decision to take control of the Peel District School Board (PDSB) is not surprising. It marks the sixth school board placed under provincial supervision since the Ford government expanded its powers under Bill 33.

Details of the takeover were reported by mainstream media across the Greater Toronto Area on Wednesday, January 28^th, 2026. In a Toronto Star article published Thursday, January 29^th, education reporter Kristin Rushowy outlined the scope of Calandra’s intervention. In addition to placing PDSB under supervision, the minister warned the York Catholic District School Board that it must improve its financial management and governance within two weeks or face the same fate.

According to the Toronto Star, Calandra said, “I’m taking immediate action to put an end to mismanagement and disruption at two school boards that are directly and negatively impacting both students and teachers.” He added that the move would halt a “Disruptive mid-year upheaval in staffing” that would have created instability in schools. As a result of the decision, sixty classroom teachers will lose their jobs.

John Fraser, Interim Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, criticized the move while speaking to reporters at Queen’s Park. “You can’t run everything from downtown,” he said. “This is more than half a million students who are going to be put in the same situation. It’s wrong.”

Fraser also raised concerns about the removal of publicly elected trustees from educational decision-making. He argued, “Doug Ford and his government have made a mess of education over eight years, and now their solution is to take over school boards.” He predicted that a political appointee would eventually replace Calandra as supervisor of PDSB.

Calandra has said he is concerned about the impact of teacher layoffs on approximately 1,400 students as the second semester of the 2025–2026 school year begins. He believes the board has two weeks to present a workable plan, or supervision will continue. After advocacy from the union representing educational assistants, the board decided to retain those workers but moved ahead with plans to reassign central office staff beginning February 9^th.

PDSB had planned to move central staff into schools to respond to declining enrolment and budget pressures. That strategy included eliminating long-term occasional teaching positions and reducing the number of educational assistants.

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF/FEESO) responded with a statement titled “Unprecedented government interference fails to address real challenges facing Ontario’s education system.” In it, President Martha Hradowy said, “This level of government interference is unprecedented in Ontario education. It raises serious questions about the government’s motives. For years, we have warned about underfunding and staffing shortages. It’s unclear how provincial supervision fixes any of that.”

She added, “What’s needed now is concrete action. Students and education workers are paying the price for years of political decisions that ignored conditions in schools. The government must ensure safe, stable learning and working environments for everyone.”