The following is a statement from the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) President David Mastin in response to today’s announcement about classroom supplies:

“For years, educators have spent hundreds of dollars of their own money to ensure students have what they need. If the government is finally acknowledging this reality, it’s long overdue. But let’s be clear. Educators cannot be bought, and our commitment to strong public education is not something this government can purchase with a pre‑bargaining announcement.

The real issue that needs addressing is this government’s ongoing refusal to address the chronic underfunding that forces educators to subsidize classrooms out of their own pockets in the first place.

Toronto, March 11, 2026 – Groups representing all aspects of publicly funded education in Ontario are expressing concerns about recent comments from Education Minister Paul Calandra regarding the potential elimination of elected school board trustees – a system of governance that has been in place longer than Canada has been a country.

This change, if implemented, would remove one of the most important ways that families and communities have a say in how their schools are governed. It would also mean that important decisions about education could be made without appropriate public discussion, debate, and awareness.

TORONTO, ON – This morning, local presidents of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), representing educators in school boards currently under Ontario Ministry of Education supervision, issued a joint letter to Education Minister Paul Calandra. The letter was also shared with ministry-appointed supervisors, directors of education at supervised boards, and the leadership of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association and the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association. It read as follows:

“As local presidents in supervised school boards, we are compelled to speak publicly about troubling decisions being made behind closed doors and the impact they are having on our public schools. 

Since the takeovers of our boards, we have witnessed a pattern of choices imposed without transparency, meaningful consultation, or any clear connection to students’ needs. Instead, these decisions appear to be driven almost exclusively by deep cost-cutting, with little regard for fixing the long-term funding formula consequences for learning and working conditions, or for the well-being of the communities our schools serve. In some cases, however, supervisors are not achieving savings at all, instead increasing costs through high salaries and discretionary funds. This is particularly concerning given the government’s public assertion that ministry-appointed supervisors would perform better than trustees. In reality, supervisors are encountering the same systemic challenges that locally elected trustees faced, demonstrating that the issues are structural, not the result of local governance.