Putting Student Achievement First Act — Trustee Powers Slashed, CEOs Replace Directors
On April 13, 2026, Education Minister Paul Calandra introduced the Putting Student Achievement First Act, which caps elected trustees at 12 per board (nearly halving TDSB's current count of 22), caps trustee honoraria at $10,000, replaces directors of education with ministry-appointed CEOs requiring business credentials, gives the Ministry of Education tie-breaking authority over board budgets and sole authority to terminate CEOs, and designates the Council of Ontario Directors of Education as the central bargaining agency for English public and Catholic boards. French-language boards are largely untouched. ETFO characterized the legislation as an "unprecedented rollback of local democracy."
📚 A proposed policy Education policy from April 2026 · Well sourced
Updated · Created
"Student Achievement and Board Accountability"
The government presents the Act as strengthening school board oversight and improving consistency of student learning experiences — capping the number of elected trustees, limiting their discretionary expenses, and introducing business credentials into board leadership.
"Trustees will continue to play a role, but that role will change significantly."
— Education Minister Paul Calandra, Queen's Park, April 13, 2026
"Authority Reassigned from Elected Trustees to the Ministry"
Each provision of the Act reassigns a discrete decision from elected trustees to a ministry-appointed or ministry-supervised role: budget tie-break to the ministry, CEO appointment by the ministry, CEO termination by the ministry, central bargaining to the Council of Ontario Directors of Education. French-language boards are largely untouched.
- Elected trustees capped at 12 per board — halves TDSB's current count of 22source
- Trustee honoraria capped at $10,000 (down from over $20,000 at some boards)source
- Director of education becomes CEO with required business credentials, appointed by the ministry rather than electedsource
- Trustees can only "make suggestions" on the annual budget; the Ministry of Education makes the final determination if trustees disagree with the CEOsource
- CEO termination requires ministry approval; trustees cannot dismiss their own CEOsource
- Council of Ontario Directors of Education designated as central bargaining agent for English public and Catholic boardssource
- Eight Ontario boards — including TDSB and Peel — are already under provincial supervision with trustee powers suspendedsource
- French-language boards are largely untouched by the legislationsource
- ETFO (David Mastin): "this legislation removes the essential powers trustees need to genuinely represent families and students" — characterized as "an unprecedented rollback of local democracy"source
This section represents editorial interpretation of documented evidence.
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