Ontario’s publicly funded school boards face real financial pressures. Declining enrolment, rising costs, and growing demands on front-line staff are widely acknowledged. But the conversation about funding is incomplete without examining how boards are spending the money they already have — particularly at the senior leadership level.
The Hold Schools Accountable Parent Network (HSA) has produced a series of investigations into executive compensation and discretionary spending at Ontario school boards, drawing on publicly available Sunshine List data,[1] Freedom of Information requests, and board financial documents. Their findings raise serious questions about whether spending priorities are aligned with student safety and learning outcomes.
School Board Research has independently examined director of education salary data across the province, analyzing growth trends from 2021 to 2024 for leaders who held their roles continuously during that period.[2] The findings, available on our Executive Compensation page, reveal a consistent pattern: executive pay increases that outpace inflation, approved by local boards, and not tied to measurable student outcomes or safety performance.
Watch: Students or Salaries? A Closer Look at Directors of Education Pay
In this analysis, Anwar Knight walks through specific examples of director of education salary growth, drawing on data analyzed by School Board Research. The video highlights boards where directors received salary increases of 24% to 36% over two to three years[3] — including boards where compliance failures in safe school policies have been separately identified.
Watch: Follow the Money — Part 2
This investigation examines the Peel District School Board’s spending priorities during a period of significant enrolment decline and budget cuts. While front-line staff face layoffs and classroom supports are reduced, HSA’s analysis of publicly available data shows at least 20 superintendents with salaries ranging from $195,000 to over $280,000, collectively costing nearly $4 million annually.[4] The video also examines legal fees, discretionary event spending, and a 46% salary increase for a single administrative position.
Watch: Pulling Back the Curtain at the PDSB — The Numbers Tell the Story
A data-driven examination of the Peel District School Board’s financial and operational decisions, including $13.5 million spent on the HR, Partnerships, and Equity Department alone — funding 104 full-time positions across nine divisions — alongside the expansion of management layers during a period of declining enrolment.[5]
Watch: PDSB Spends Over $60,000 on a One-Day Event
Through a Freedom of Information request, HSA obtained invoices showing that the Peel District School Board spent over $60,000 on a single-day internal event — including $45,000 for a convention centre venue in Brampton, over $11,000 on breakfast, nearly $14,000 on lunch, and $22,000 on audiovisual rental equipment — all confirmed through invoices obtained via FOI.[6] This occurred while the board was simultaneously requesting that parents purchase classroom supplies and while classrooms faced increasing violence and staff shortages.
Watch: Mulch Madness — Another Example of Misplaced Priorities
A Freedom of Information request revealed that the PDSB spent over $5,500 on landscaping at Tony Pontes Public School — not for safety or bylaw compliance, but to prepare the grounds for a brief visit by then-Minister of Education Jill Dunlop and Deputy Premier Sylvia Jones. The landscaping work began on August 26; the VIP visit took place three days later on August 29.[7]
The Accountability Question
Ontario operates under a provincial executive compensation framework that sets salary ranges for directors of education based on board size, organizational complexity, and public sector benchmarks.[8] But within those ranges, local boards decide where a director’s salary lands — and those decisions are made without any formal requirement to tie compensation to student outcomes, safety performance, or policy compliance.
This disconnect is at the core of what both School Board Research and HSA have independently documented: a system where financial decisions at the top are insulated from the realities experienced by students, families, and front-line staff. When a board simultaneously approves substantial executive salary increases and cuts classroom supports, the question of priorities becomes unavoidable.
What Parents Can Do
Review Sunshine List data. The Ontario Public Sector Salary Disclosure (Sunshine List) is published annually and includes school board employees earning over $100,000.[1] It is a starting point for understanding how your board allocates resources at the leadership level.
Attend board meetings. School board budget deliberations are public. Attending — or reviewing meeting minutes — gives parents insight into how spending decisions are made and what trade-offs are involved.
Use MFIPPA. Parents have the right to request financial records from their school board under Ontario’s Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.[9] If you have questions about specific expenditures, a formal access request is a tool available to you.
For more on executive compensation trends across Ontario school boards, visit our Executive Compensation page.
Sources
[1] Government of Ontario, Public Sector Salary Disclosure (Sunshine List), published annually. Includes all Ontario public sector employees earning $100,000 or more.
[2] School Board Research, Executive Compensation Analysis: Director of Education Salary Trends, 2021–2024. Analysis covers directors who held their roles continuously during the period.
[3] Anwar Knight, “Students or Salaries? A Closer Look at Directors of Education Pay,” Hold Schools Accountable Parent Network, February 10, 2026. Video. Salary increase percentages drawn from School Board Research data and Sunshine List filings.
[4] Anwar Knight, “Follow the Money — Part 2,” Hold Schools Accountable Parent Network, January 18, 2026. Video. Superintendent salary figures drawn from Ontario Public Sector Salary Disclosure data. The $4 million collective cost and 20+ superintendent headcount are stated by Knight in the video.
[5] Anwar Knight, “Pulling Back the Curtain at the PDSB — The Numbers Tell the Story,” Hold Schools Accountable Parent Network, February 5, 2026. Video. The $13.5 million HR figure and 104-position headcount are cited by Knight from the PDSB’s own 2023–24 budget document. Individual salary figures cited from Ontario Public Sector Salary Disclosure.
[6] Anwar Knight, “PDSB Spends Over $60,000 on a One-Day Event,” Hold Schools Accountable Parent Network, September 9, 2025. Video. All expense figures ($45K venue, $11K breakfast, $14K lunch, $22K AV) drawn from invoices obtained through MFIPPA request QP2544, facilitated by QP Briefing.
[7] Anwar Knight, “Mulch Madness — Another Example of Misplaced Priorities,” Hold Schools Accountable Parent Network, September 16, 2025. Video. Invoice obtained through MFIPPA request facilitated by QP Briefing (QP244). Cost breakdown: 108 hours of labour ($4,200+) plus 8 yards of mulch ($800+), totalling over $5,500 with HST. Work performed at Tony Pontes Public School.
[8] Ontario government executive compensation framework for broader public sector organizations, including school boards. Director of education salary ranges are established based on board size and organizational complexity.
[9] Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M.56. Ontario e-Laws.
School Board Research is an independent, evidence-based research initiative examining how Ontario’s 72 publicly funded school boards translate provincial safety mandates into local policy. Learn more at schoolboardresearch.ca.
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