Mayor pushes for alternate structures in review of school board governance

Connor Luczka, Echo Correspondent

The Mayor of Zorra Township is pushing for alternate school governance structures to be investigated by the province as the Ministry of Education continues its supervision of the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB).

On April 29, the province announced the appointment of Paul Boniferro as a financial and operational supervisor for the board due to the board’s deteriorating finances.

Marcus Ryan said area municipalities like Zorra collect property taxes on behalf of the ministry that is re-allocated to the TVDSB.

“A board that has “historically struggled to have a constructive relationship with. It is this imbalance that is at the centre of his motion, and for his position as the town’s mayor in general.”

Ryan first got involved in politics when the TVDSB wanted to close his children’s school. Since then, his constituents have brought similar grievances to him over the years.

“And I've pointed out to them that, yes, sometimes the board isn't always making the best choices that we would like to make, but a lot of time they're making those choices because of the way they are funded, because of the way they are governed by the Education Act. Those things need to change if you want the outcomes to change.”

Ryan added he’s worried about the taxpayer.

“Whether it's covered through the education portion of the property tax bill, the municipal portion of the property tax bill, income tax, sales tax, there's a 19-point-something-billion-dollar backlog in school infrastructure in this province. And to be clear, that school infrastructure is where our children go to school every day. And my biggest worry is I don't want somebody to just cut a cheque to do that without changing the governance that got us to a 19-point-something-billion-dollar infrastructure backlog.”

According to a 2024 report by the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario, the backlog is even worse than Ryan believes. It would cost $21.7 billion to clear the infrastructure backlog and maintain school buildings in good condition for the next 10 years.

While Ryan acknowledged the motion was toothless, he said that was intentional but wanted to politically support the province in reviewing how schools are governed. Ryan’s motion was supported across the board by Zorra’s town councillors.

“I think the public is well aware of the scandal that hit the news that publicly started some awareness around some of this dysfunction,” said Coun. Katie Grigg. “But a lot of the issues were going on for quite some time behind the scenes. I think Mayor Ryan is well aware of those and has been tracking them and advocating for those for quite some time.”