The Toronto District School Board announced Monday it will lay off 218 central administration staff and eliminate 91 additional vacant positions, framing the move as a restructuring to redirect resources to classrooms. What the announcement did not say is that hundreds of teaching positions are being cut separately, and that classrooms are very much part of the story.
The board said the administrative cuts “will not affect classroom staff” and are part of efforts to modernize central administration. In an April statement, TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird told CBC News that 28 positions are being cut due to the end of one-time pandemic funding and 12 due to declining enrolment, with most remaining changes expected through attrition.
The fuller picture, drawn from TDSB documents and prior announcements, is considerably more severe. In April, the board confirmed it expected to cut up to 289 teaching positions for the 2026-27 school year due to declining enrolment — nearly 5,000 fewer students are expected next fall.
Toronto Today, citing the board’s own 2026-27 staffing allocation plan, reported the actual figure is higher: 484 elementary and 123 secondary teacher positions, totalling more than 600.
Among those are 175 teachers serving low-income areas and 95 teaching English as a second language. The board has also cut 40 vice-principal positions, forcing some schools to share administrators.
Elementary Teachers of Toronto president Helen Victoros called the cuts “breathtaking in their depth,” adding that decisions are being made in secrecy by Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra and provincially appointed TDSB supervisor Rohit Gupta.
“They represent a significant departure from what our students need,” she said. “Kids are struggling,” said Kristen Boyd, a school council chair of six years whose three children attend TDSB elementary schools. “You need those extra supports just to help kids regulate.”
Ford’s government placed the TDSB under provincial supervision in June of last year, after a financial investigation found growing deficits and rejected cost-saving measures — one of several Ontario school boards currently under provincial control.
The Ford government’s education funding reductions are driving the cuts, with the TDSB carrying a structural deficit and trimming programs and staff to comply with provincial spending constraints.
Monday’s administrative layoffs bring total confirmed job losses at the TDSB to up to 600 teaching positions and 309 administrative and vacant roles — before the school year begins.
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