TDSB considers closing nearly half of its pools to curtail $58M budget deficit

Naama Weingarten · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 30, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Some pools, euphony instructors, outdoor activities and tech instrumentality could soon beryllium connected the chopping artifact astatine the Toronto District School Board, arsenic the TDSB looks to excavation itself retired of a fiscal hole. 

The committee is facing a projected $58-million fund shortage this year, and a study going earlier its fund committee Wednesday day outlines however it could marque up the shortfall.

One of the recommended cuts that's possibly caught the astir attraction truthful acold impacts excavation programming. The TDSB is looking to laic disconnected 86 aquatic instructors and adjacent the pools that it doesn't lease out.

The schoolhouse committee leases 27 of its 66 pools to the metropolis and 2 much are leased privately for aft schoolhouse programming, meaning nearly fractional of its pools could unopen down successful a determination the board study says could prevention $12.8 million. 

Shuttering the pools would not lone interaction students utilizing them, says Coun. Josh Matlow, who started a petition against the cuts, on with TDSB trustee Shelley Laskin. 

"Losing these pools volition besides person an interaction connected the remainder of our assemblage due to the fact that galore people, including seniors and galore others, trust connected these pools," helium said. 

In a statement, TDSB seat Neethan Shan said, "it's important to enactment that nary last decisions person been made," and it volition beryllium up to schoolhouse trustees to marque the last telephone arsenic portion of their fund process. 

"Community consultations are integral for Trustees arsenic we analyse the galore paths to equilibrium the fund this year," Shan said.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) is facing its own $65.9-million deficit. In a statement, TCDSB seat Markus de Domenico said the committee identified much than $80 cardinal successful savings successful the past 3 years and $10 cardinal much this year.

He said the committee is waiting connected a study from the consulting firm Deloitte LLP, who it's moving with to find ways to chopped costs. 

'Cuts wounded kids, it's not negotiable'

Kate Dupuis, whose 2 kids spell to TDSB schools, says the state should decently money acquisition alternatively than marque schoolhouse boards look for ways to chopped costs, particularly for things that support kids active. She besides ran to beryllium an NDP MPP successful the past provincial election.

"I privation trained, well-paid acquisition workers successful that excavation with them to marque definite kids are getting the champion prime acquisition they can," she said.

"Cuts wounded kids, it's not negotiable."

The committee is besides considering getting escaped of its 74 itinerant euphony instructors (IMI), who thatch specialized euphony skills that spell supra what's already required. 

TDSB is the lone committee successful the state with IMIs, who are not Ontario certified teachers. Cutting them would prevention the committee $5 cardinal since they're not funded by the province, the study says. 

The committee is besides looking to prevention costs by maximizing its people sizes, which it said are smaller than required and could spare it dozens of teachers. 

It's besides urge letting students usage Chromebooks starting successful Grade 7 alternatively than Grade 5, on with providing outdoor acquisition connected a "cost betterment basis," which could mean possibly shuttering outdoor acquisition centres that it can't maintain.

School boards accidental deficits not wholly successful their control

The effort to chopped costs comes arsenic the provincial authorities investigates how efficiently schoolhouse boards are utilizing their backing and threatening to instrumentality implicit those who neglect to equilibrium their budgets.

The fiscal probes travel aft trustees with the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board spent $190,000 successful payer wealth for a travel to Italy that included deluxe edifice rooms and a limo thrust — each meant to bargain creation for schools.

Thames Valley District School Board besides came nether scrutiny from the ministry aft spending about $40,000 astatine a unit retreat to Toronto — while the committee faced a $7.6-million fund deficit. 

TDSB and TCDSB, however, property overmuch of their deficits to things that are not wrong their control, similar statutory benefits. 

The TDSB said it doesn't person capable backing to screen salaries for teachers and aboriginal puerility educators, and that assistance gross hasn't kept up with inflation. That's portion its Catholic counterpart cited things similar unfunded sick permission costs and having to support underutilized schools unfastened due to the fact that of the provincial moratorium connected schoolhouse closures.

The TDSB already pitched the state connected a program to prevention wealth successful the autumn that would person brought its shortage down to $11 million, but the state precocious rejected that program and said it would name a fiscal researcher to assistance the committee prevention money.

The authorities has fixed the TDSB committee "multiple opportunities … to code its fiscal situation," Education Minister Paul Calandra's property secretary, Emma Testani, said successful a connection to CBC Toronto.

"To date, the committee has not produced a trustee-approved fiscal betterment program to respond to concerns that place strategies to destruct their deficits," she said.

Testani's connection says the authorities is "prepared to instrumentality further enactment to guarantee each schoolhouse boards are focused connected delivering the high-quality acquisition our students deserve."