England
Academization
78% of secondary schools converted to Multi-Academy Trusts. Property deeds transferred at no cost. ~£60B assets.
Two-thirds performed below average for disadvantaged pupils., Sutton Trust
Preparing content
$123.3B
School asset value
FAO Dec 2024
8
Boards supervised
As of Apr 2026
~⅓
Of Ontario K-12 students
Estimated from EFIS enrolment
67,509
OAP waitlist
CBC FOI Jan 2026
How to read this investigation
Fact
Legislative sequence is documented.
Bill 98, O. Reg. 374/23, Bill 33, and the April 2026 proposal. Primary sources linked.
Analysis
Privatization risk is our interpretation.
International precedent supports the concern. The government denies the intent.
Risk
No direct donor-to-sale link proven.
Unlike the Greenbelt, no reporting has yet connected a school property purchaser to a PC Party donor.
The architecture of privatization is rarely built overnight. It is assembled through amendments, regulations, oversight powers, and governance redesigns, until control has shifted by the time the public notices what changed.
Between 2018 and 2026, per-student funding fell by $260 in real terms, a cumulative $6.35 billion shortfallCCPA 2025. Boards slid into deficit: by 2025, two-thirds were in deficit or just breaking even.CBC EFIS 2025 The province then invoked those deficits as justification for unprecedented provincial intervention. Eight boards, Thames Valley, TDSB, TCDSB, OCDSB, DPCDSB, Near North, Peel DSB, and York Catholic, covering roughly one-third of Ontario’s K-12 students, now answer to appointed supervisors who, according to CBC News reporting, had ties to the Conservative Party.CBC News 2025
Methodology: This investigation draws exclusively from primary government records, legislative texts, FOI data, FAO reports, and on-the-record media reporting. No unnamed sources. Every figure is verified against the cited primary document. Where evidence is incomplete, we say so explicitly.
Legislative sequence
The Four-Law Pipeline
Each law removed a safeguard. Together they create an unbroken chain from underfunding to forced property sales.
Stage 01, June 2023
Bill 98, Better Schools & Student Outcomes Act
Minister gains power to direct boards to sell property not needed for the next ten years. Boards must report all property conditions and plans to the province.
Property controlMandatory reporting
Source: Legislative Assembly of Ontario; BLG; Hicks Morley
Stage 02, December 31, 2023
O. Reg. 374/23, Disposition Rules Reset
Municipalities removed from buyer priority list. New “provincial priorities” catch-all added. Mandatory disposition: unused 10-year property, Minister “shall mandate” the sale.
Municipalities outMandatory sales“Provincial priorities”
Source: O. Reg. 374/23 s.2, s.5(2), s.6; BLG; Miller Thomson; Toronto Council 2024.EX13.2
Stage 03, November 2025
Bill 33, Supporting Children & Students Act
Takeover grounds expanded to any “matter of public interest.” Minister acts unilaterally. Board’s right to appeal to Divisional Court eliminated.
No court appealUnilateral power
Source: Gowling WLG; Hicks Morley; CBC News
Stage 04, April 13, 2026
Bill 101, Putting Student Achievement First Act
Director of Education renamed CEO (business background required, leads budget development, refers spending disputes to the Minister for final decision). New Chief Education Officer role. Trustees capped at 12 per board; honoraria capped at $10,000.
CEO modelTrustee cap 12Tabled today
Source: Bill 101 (ola.org); CBC News; Global News; CP24, April 13, 2026
Scale
What’s at Stake
$123.3B
School replacement value
FAO Capital Report, Dec 2024
$15–20B
TDSB land portfolio
611 properties, 5,082 acres, RENX/CBC
$6.5B
Repair backlog
FAO 2024, grows to $22.1B by 2033-34
$6.35B
Cumulative funding shortfall
CCPA, $260/student since 2018-19
⅔
Boards in deficit or breaking even
CBC EFIS analysis, Sept 2025
$14,504
Per-student funding
FAO 2025, lowest in a decade
Funding pressure
The convergence that makes selling inevitable
Real per-student funding fell to its lowest in a decade while boards in deficit tripled. The structural gap creates the financial distress that justifies supervision, and supervision enables property decisions.
Per-student funding (left)Boards in deficit (right)
Sources: FAO Education Spending Plan Review 2025 ($14,504/student); CCPA June 2025 ($6.35B gap); CBC EFIS analysis (deficit counts). Year-by-year deficit trajectory is illustrative between confirmed endpoints.
Property control
Who Controls the Land
Province-appointed supervisors now exercise the authority that previously rested with elected trustees, including all decisions about school property.
TDSB
Rohit Gupta, Managing Partner, Harrington Place Advisors (“where public assets meet private capital”). Decade of M&A at Scotia Capital. Economic Policy Advisor to PM Harper. Established P3 Canada.Harrington Place; Ontario.ca
OCDSB
Bob Plamondon, Listed the 5.53-acre former Grant Alternative School (2625 Draper Ave., near the Pinecrest LRT station) for private sale through Avison Young in 2026; as supervisor, Plamondon was not obligated to hold public meetings and elected trustees no longer make decisions on this sale.CBC Ottawa; CTV News Ottawa
DPCDSB
Rick Byers, Former PC MPP. Board accumulated $97.8M deficit, projected $136.3M. Calandra: “at the brink of bankruptcy.”The Pointer; Global News
Transparency
TLC ordered to stop livestreaming board meetings. Gupta signalled change to TLC’s “shareholder direction”, no details disclosed.TorontoToday, Nov 2025
“I feel like they’re hiding something.”
Trustee Dan MacLean, TorontoToday
Then-Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie questioned why the province appointed “conservative insiders as supervisors instead of supervisors with the requisite education experience.”CBC, June 27, 2025
PwC found the TDSB’s reliance on property sales was “not sustainable.” The province then appointed a supervisor with extensive M&A and P3 experience.Ontario.ca; The Local
No allegation of misconduct or wrongdoing is made against any individual or organization named in this section. Quotations are reproduced from the cited sources.
Pattern recognition
The Greenbelt Parallel
Critics see a structural parallel. The architecture is strikingly similar; direct proof of insider benefit has not yet emerged for school property.
Greenbelt, 2022-23
Documented. AG report. RCMP investigation.
- AG 2023: 92% of 3,000 hectares opened were parcels handed to minister’s staffer by two developers at a September 2022 BILD dinner
- 15 removed parcels: $240M assessed → AG estimated $8.3B collective value increase
- RCMP criminal investigation launched October 10, 2023
- Ontario NDP (Dec 2020): 19 of 38 MZOs benefited developers linked to PC donors or insiders
- Highway 413: 8 developers owning 3,300 acres along the route donated $813K to the PC Party since 2014
School Boards, 2023-26
Architecture documented. End use unproven.
- “Provincial priorities” language mirrors Greenbelt discretion
- Municipalities removed from buyer priority list
- Supervisors who, per CBC News reporting, had ties to the Conservative Party, now oversee $15-20B in TDSB property
- TLC stopped livestreaming board meetings
- TDSB and TCDSB pursuing 14-storey developments on school sites
- FOI exemption bill (March 2026) would bury future evidence
No allegation of misconduct or wrongdoing is made against any individual or organization named in this section. The Greenbelt facts are reproduced from the cited Auditor General report and subsequent reporting; the school-property column documents legislative architecture only.
International context
Where This Playbook Has Been Run
United States
State takeovers
100+ takeovers since 1989. New Orleans all-charter post-Katrina. Detroit’s 15-year takeover left schools worse.
Philadelphia sold West Phila High ($16.3M) for $6M. 42% became charters.
Sweden
For-profit vouchers
1992 reform allowed for-profit operators. Model Fraser Institute advocates for Ontario.
Steepest PISA decline of any OECD country. “System failure” declared 2023.
Canada
P3 schools
Nova Scotia built 39 P3 schools. Alberta planned 19. Ontario’s P3 portfolio audited.
Nova Scotia spent $49.3M buying back. Ontario AG: P3s cost $8B more.
Human cost
67,509 Children Lose Their Most Consistent Public Support
For children waiting 5+ years for OAP clinical services, school-based supports, speech therapy, OT, EAs, IEPs, are often the most consistent public intervention available.
0
Children waiting for OAP services
Each dot ≈ 10 children on the OAP waitlist · Red = children at supervised boards (~33%)
50%
Parents worried about safety at school
5,000
Educators lost since 2018
6%
Students fully excluded (~21K)
0
Surplus rules requiring disability impact test
Conclusion
The Architecture Is Complete
Four laws passed over three years transferred governance powers to the provincial Minister. Supervisors appointed to eight boards hold backgrounds documented in CBC News reporting. No published timeline exists for restoring elected governance.
No investigative reporting has yet directly linked a specific school property purchaser to a PC Party donor. But the tools are in place, the pattern matches the Greenbelt, Ontario Place, and Science Centre precedents, and the international evidence is unambiguous.
The Government of Ontario has built the pipeline. The question is what it intends to pump through it, and whether the 67,509 autistic children on a five-year waitlist will be counted among the costs.
This is happening now.
Ontario families deserve transparency about what happens to public school land.
Primary sources & methodology
Legislation: Bill 98 · O. Reg. 374/23 · Bill 33 (2025) · Bill 101, Putting Student Achievement First Act, 2026 (tabled April 13, 2026)
Financial: FAO Capital Dec 2024, $123.3B, $6.5B backlog, 84.1% TDSB below SOGR · FAO Spending 2025, $14,504/student · CCPA June 2025, $6.35B gap
Property: TDSB ($15–20B) from RENX, CBC · Toronto Council 2024.EX13.2
Supervisors: Harrington Place · Ontario.ca · CBC June 2025 · TorontoToday
Legal: BLG · Gowling WLG · Hicks Morley · Miller Thomson
Grant Alternative School: CBC Ottawa · CTV News Ottawa
Greenbelt parallel: AG Special Report on Greenbelt (Aug 2023) · CBC, RCMP investigation Oct 10, 2023 · National Observer, Hwy 413 donations
Published April 13, 2026. Corrections within 24 hours at endthewaitontario.com/corrections.
About This Article
Verified Facts
Facts cited on this page
Under the Ontario Education Act, every student with special needs is entitled to an Individual Education Plan (IEP) and access to an Identification, Placement and Review Committee (IPRC)
88,175, children are registered in the Ontario Autism Program
1 in 50, According to the 2019 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth, about children and youth aged 1 to 17 in Canada had an autism diagnosis
23.4%, Only 20,666 children have active funding agreements () — less than one in four
WHO recommends accessible, community-based early interventions for children with autism — timely evidence-based psychosocial interventions improve communication and social engagement