In April, the Ontario government put forward Bill 98: Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, 2023. It proposes sweeping changes to the Education Act, with increased provincial direction in a number of areas. As part of the legislative process, the bill is currently before the Ontario Standing Committee on Social Policy. On Tuesday, Chair Lyra Evans spoke at the committee on behalf of the OCDSB. In addition, we have provided a written submission to the committee that provides our perspective on the various components of the bill.
In our submission, we state: “As a general statement, while the OCDSB supports certain provisions of the proposed legislation, we also have significant concerns with several aspects of the legislation and their potential impact on locally elected school boards. Many of the changes being proposed in Bill 98 include language that grants the Minister of Education expanded ‘power’ and ‘authority’ to issue regulations, establish policies, issue guidelines, and create new reporting requirements in a number of areas. We are concerned with the scope and breadth of these changes and their potential adverse impact on the local autonomy of school boards to act in the best interests of their communities.”
Read our full submission.