Provincial supervisor has made no cuts to TDSB budget, board official says

At the TDSB's accessibility committee, executive officer of finance Craig Snider suggested the province's supervisor had not made cuts or reductions to the existing financial plan.

A senior finance executive at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) says a Ford government-appointed supervisor has not made any cuts to the budget, although he has put a hiring review in place when staff quit or retire.

At a recent meeting of the TDSB’s special education advisory committee, executive officer of finance Craig Snider suggested the province’s supervisor had not made cuts or reductions to the existing financial plan.

“Both the budget and the revenue have stayed the same,” he told the chair of the committee, David Lepofsky.

“There have been no reductions to budget. There have been reviews of staffing compliments needed, and when people retire or resign, there’s a hiring review process. But the budget itself, for the 2025-26 year, remains the same.”

Last year, Education Minister Paul Calandra appointed supervisors to take over five Ontario school boards, including Toronto public, Toronto Catholic and Ottawa-Carleton, citing mismanagement by trustees.

“Ontario continues to provide record funding for education,” a news release from the province said when it announced the appointment of a supervisor at TDSB in June. “Individual investigations concluded that each of these boards should be placed under supervision due to growing deficits and depleting reserves.”

The announcement said the TDSB had rejected 46 per cent of cost savings measures brought forward over two years — and used “unsustainable” asset sales to balance the books.

Roughly six months after being appointed, however, the TDSB supervisor appears not to have made moves to cut spending.