At its latest monthly meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, NNDSB trustees passed the motion entitled Ontario School Board Efficiencies. NNDSB’s Board of Trustees agreed that they want the government to look at how to bring more resources to students, staff and schools.

“We are committed to the priorities of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) which promotes and advances high-quality, equitable, and inclusive learning environments to support student success and wellbeing,” said Board Chair Ashley St. Pierre.

The motion was brought forward by Trustee Bill Steer. Trustee Steer has served as an NNDSB trustee for seven years and is the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) Board of Directors representative for NNDSB. He is also the Chair of the Northern Region of OPSBA school boards and sits on the OPSBA executive.

The motion states: That in the interests of applying more resources to student success and well-being, the NNDSB Board of Trustees send a letter to the Minister of Education asking the Ministry to initiate, study and begin consultations regarding efficiencies within the four-school board system model. And that the NNDSB also sends a letter to OPSBA asking it to advocate the same with the Ministry of Education on its member boards’ behalf and that the letters be shared with all OPSBA member boards.

Steer said, “We are not saying how many boards there should be, we are asking the government for a comprehensive consultative study to look for opportunities that will not only identify cost savings but also create efficiencies. Regardless of background, all students can benefit from a new educational delivery system recognizing and including all existing Charter/Constitutional rights.”

“In this day of such societal diversity, awareness and acceptance of a new way of delivering public education will allow for more resources for student success and well–being for all students – incorporating culture, religion and language.

“Our health care system underwent an overhaul as mandated by the province,” he said. “So could the delivery of education. Everything in the public sector has become more expensive to deliver as an essential service.”

In 2021-22, there were approximately 2.0 million children enrolled in Ontario’s public schools across the four commonly recognized school systems. The English public school system is the largest, with 31 school boards and 1.3 million students enrolled in 2021-22, followed by the English Catholic system, with 29 school boards and 554,739 students, the French Catholic system, with eight school boards and 76,501 students, and the French public system, with four school boards and 34,588 students.(Ontario School Boards: Enrolment, Finances and Student Outcomes, Financial Accountability Office of Ontario, 2024. https://fao-on.org/en/report/fa2207schoolboards/ )

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