York Catholic serves roughly 50,000 students across York Region, many of them in Markham, and their families now wait to learn whether Queen's Park will run the board directly. Education Minister Paul Calandra gave trustees two weeks to explain themselves. On Feb. 10 they did, and the answer deserves a fair reading.

The minister's concerns are not invented. The ministry has described “an alarming revolving door in leadership,” and the board's own chair acknowledged the turnover in the director's office; the board is now led by an interim director of education. Calandra has also pointed to infighting and to how the board has used its reserves. Parents who have watched leadership change again and again are entitled to wonder who is steering.

But the board's reply was more than a defence of its reputation. Its finance staff showed that the recovery plan filed with the ministry last August is being carried out, with $7.6 million in net savings expected this year and an early estimate of $9.4 million next year. The plan aims to balance the annual budget in 2026-27 and erase the accumulated deficit by 2030-31. Trustees also committed to governance training on their roles and on financial oversight before the end of June.

Supervision has its own costs

Supervision is a blunt tool. When a supervisor arrives, elected trustees are sidelined, and families lose the local representatives they can call, email or face at a public meeting. Supervisors are also not cheap: they can bill up to $350,000 a year in salary. The province already has six other boards under supervision, and it has yet to show that this approach produces better results for students than a board that is held firmly to account.

There is also a timing problem. Ontario's municipal and school board elections are on Oct. 26. Voters in Markham will soon have their own say on who sits at the York Catholic table. Removing trustees months before that vote would take a decision away from the community just as it is about to make one.

A better path

The minister does not have to choose between a takeover and trust. He can accept the board's plan on conditions: quarterly public reports on savings against targets, proof that the governance training is completed by June, and a clear statement that missing those marks will bring a supervisor. That would protect students and taxpayers while leaving accountability where it belongs, with trustees who answer to voters.

York Catholic's trustees asked for the chance to fix their own house. They should get it, with the province watching closely and the public able to see the results.