Ontario's Education Act (R.S.O. 1990, c. E.2) has long permitted the province to investigate a board's financial affairs and vest its powers in a supervisor (Part IX, Division D, ss. 257.30–257.42). These powers underpin every financial takeover in the 2025–26 wave.
Bill 98 (S.O. 2023, c. 11) expanded the Minister's authority to intervene in school boards beyond financial distress — adding student-achievement and governance concerns — and shortened procedural timelines for acting.
The province vested the powers of the Thames Valley board in a supervisor following a PwC investigation into its finances. The investigation's scope expressly did not include a determination of serious financial mismanagement.
On June 27, 2025 the province placed four more boards under supervision over financial deficits: the Toronto DSB, Toronto Catholic DSB, Ottawa-Carleton DSB, and Dufferin-Peel Catholic DSB. The PwC review of the TDSB attributed its deficits to structural causes and found executive compensation to be a bona fide restructuring.
Bill 33 (S.O. 2025, c. 12) lets the Minister investigate and supervise a board over any "matter of public interest," lets the Minister rather than Cabinet impose supervision directly, and removes a board's ability to ask the Divisional Court to revoke a supervision order — leaving the Minister's takeover decisions outside court review.
Near North became the first board supervised under the broadened Bill 33 powers. Unlike the financial takeovers, the Ministry cited governance — non-compliance with binding ministerial directions — while the board was operating with a surplus. The Minister acted as interim supervisor until a permanent supervisor was appointed in April 2026.
The province placed the Peel District School Board under supervision, citing five consecutive years of deficit; the order halted a planned mid-year teacher reduction. The board chair publicly called the takeover a "smokescreen" for underfunding. This is separate from Peel's 2020–2023 supervision over anti-Black racism, which was lifted in January 2023.
The York Catholic District School Board became the eighth Ontario board placed under provincial supervision since 2025, the most extensive use of these powers in the province's recent history.
End The Wait Ontario is tracking how supervision orders affect Special Education Advisory Committees (SEACs) across the supervised boards: recommendations that once went to a trustee vote now reach an appointed supervisor with no electoral accountability to local families.
End The Wait Ontario is calling for assurances that students' special education rights under the Education Act and Ontario Human Rights Code are preserved during supervision periods, and that SEAC and consultation standards are maintained at the level elected boards must meet.