How We Got Here: Eighty Years of Fights Between Ontario and Its Education Unions

Eighty years of disputes between Ontario, its school boards and the education unions: what was fought over, who won what, and what it has meant for families.

Summary

Ontario’s education unions are holding strike votes this month. The current dispute, over which issues are bargained at the provincial table and which are left to each school board, is the latest round in a long contest over who decides how Ontario’s schools are staffed and paid for. This article sets out that history from public records: the statutes, the debates in the Legislature, court rulings, Auditor General reports and contemporary reporting. Four findings stand out.

1. Every party that has governed Ontario since 1944 has ended school strikes or set education workers’ terms by law. Progressive Conservative, New Democratic and Liberal governments have all passed back-to-school laws or laws that imposed or capped contract terms: Davis in the 1970s, Rae in 1993, Harris and Eves from 1997 to 2003, McGuinty in 2012, Wynne in 2015 and Ford in 2019 and 2022.
2. The same few issues come back in round after round. Class size, preparation time and workload, sick leave and pay restraint, and who decides (the province, the school board or the bargaining table) were at stake in 1987, 1997, 2012, 2015, 2019 and again now.
3. Bargaining has moved steadily from the local board to the province. In 1975 each of about 200 boards bargained with its own teachers. The province took over school funding in 1998, set provincial frameworks from 2004, wrote two-tier bargaining into law in 2014, and in 2026 replaced the trustee associations with the Council of Ontario Directors of Education as the employer bargaining agency for English-language boards. Each step moved decisions from elected trustees, and the parents who elect them, to the province.
4. Laws that imposed terms were often reversed, but not all of their effects were. The 2012 law that imposed teachers’ contracts was repealed within months and later found to have breached the Charter, at a cost of more than $200 million in remedies, including up to $103.1 million for ETFO members. The 2019 wage cap was struck down and repealed. The 2022 law banning a support staff strike was repealed within days. But the end of banked sick days in 2012, the removal of principals from the teachers’ unions in 1997 and the province’s control of school funding have all lasted.

1. Introduction

For a parent, a strike vote can feel sudden. It is not. Since 1944, Ontario’s teachers and education workers have gone from having no settled right to strike, to striking board by board, to bargaining with the province itself. Each change was fought over, often in the Legislature and the courts as well as at the bargaining table, and each left its mark on how schools run today.

This article does not take a side. It sets out what each round was about, what each side asked for, what each got, and what it cost families in lost school days and activities. It draws only on public sources, listed at the end. Figure 1 shows the main events. A companion article published on 9 November, “Strike Votes and Strikes: What the Public Record Shows“, counts the strike votes, strikes and back-to-school laws. Another, to be published on 12 November, “Ontario’s Education Unions: What the Public Record Shows”, sets out what teachers are paid, what they pay in dues and how public money reaches the unions.

2. Before the Right to Strike, 1944 to 1975

Compulsory membership

The present system begins in 1944. That year the Teaching Profession Act made every teacher in Ontario’s public schools a member of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation and of one of its affiliates (Royal Commission on Learning 1994). The rule still stands: “Every teacher is a member of the Federation” (Teaching Profession Act, s. 4(1)). The affiliates are the unions parents know today, although the two public elementary federations, one for women and one for men, did not merge into the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) until 1998 (Dugale 2018).

What the 1944 Act did not give teachers was a right to strike. Teachers were not covered by the province’s labour relations law (Hanson 2009, 121), and one study of the period finds that a definite answer on whether they could legally strike “never existed prior to 1975” (Jefferson 2008, 21). For most of these years they relied on persuasion (Hanson 2009, 117). When that failed, teachers in a dispute handed in their resignations together, timed to take effect in the middle of the school year. By the early 1970s, mass resignations at Christmas had become the teachers’ strike in all but name (Hanson 2009, 121).

Fewer, larger boards

The first great consolidation of school boards came in 1969. The Robarts government announced county-level boards in November 1967, to be in place by 1 January 1969; according to the Minister of Education’s report for 1969, the number of boards fell from 1,358 in 1968 to 192 in 1969 (Bradburn 2025). The federations and local politicians complained of little consultation and a short timetable (Bradburn 2025). Larger boards meant larger bargaining units and stronger local unions (Hanson 2009, 121).

1973: the province tries to ban teacher strikes

In 1970 the Ontario government set up the Reville committee to advise on teacher bargaining. Its 1972 report recommended that teachers not be allowed to strike and that disputes go to compulsory arbitration (Hanson 2009, 122). The federations went the other way: the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) approved strike action in 1971, and in 1973 secondary, Catholic and French-language teachers used mid-year mass resignations in 17 of about 200 boards (Hanson 2009, 122 to 123). In York County, a board consultant counted 667 secondary teachers who resigned together, in a dispute ended in 1974 by a special statute that sent it to compulsory arbitration (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 1974; York County Board of Education Teachers Dispute Act, 1974).

On 10 December 1973, Education Minister Thomas Wells introduced two bills. Bill 274 nullified the mid-year resignations of teachers on strike, and Bill 275 required teachers to submit to compulsory arbitration (Hanson 2009, 123). On 18 December 1973, teachers across the province stopped work for one day, closing almost all schools (Hanson 2009, 124). More than 22,000 teachers filled Maple Leaf Gardens that day (Toronto Star 1973). Bill 274 was left to die on the order paper, and the Davis government agreed to build a bargaining process with the Ontario Teachers’ Federation instead (Hanson 2009, 124).

1975: Bill 100 and the right to strike

The result was the School Boards and Teachers Collective Negotiations Act, 1975, known as Bill 100. It gave teachers the right to strike and allowed working conditions to be included in collective agreements (Hanson 2009, 124). It also brought every form of pressure under the same rules. A “strike” under the Act, as later consolidated, included “withdrawal of services”, “work to rule” and “the giving of notice to terminate contracts of employment” (School Boards and Teachers Collective Negotiations Act, s. 1). Mass resignation, the old tactic, became a strike like any other.

The Act set the steps before a legal strike: a fact finder’s report made public, a secret-ballot vote on the board’s last offer, and a strike vote (s. 63). It created the Education Relations Commission, whose duties included advising the Cabinet when a strike “will place in jeopardy the successful completion of courses of study” (s. 60(1)(h)). That advice became the usual trigger for a back-to-school law.

Each side gained something. Teachers won a legal right to strike and to bargain working conditions. Boards gained a legal right to lock out and an orderly process with votes on their final offers. The province kept a safety valve: when the Commission found that students’ year was in jeopardy, the Legislature could order teachers back.

3. The Local Era, 1975 to 1995

Board-by-board strikes and back-to-school laws

The new law was tested at once. Metro Toronto’s secondary teachers struck from 12 November 1975. By 15 January 1976 it was, in the Minister’s words, “the longest teacher strike in Ontario history”; the Leader of the Opposition put it at 140,000 students and 8,000 teachers. The Legislature sent the dispute to binding arbitration and ordered the teachers back (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 1976a; Metropolitan Toronto Boards of Education and Teachers Disputes Act, 1976). Special statutes for Kirkland Lake, Central Algoma and Sault Ste. Marie followed in the same year. In the Central Algoma case the Commission advised against special legislation, and the bill as passed sent the dispute to final offer selection rather than ordering teachers back (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 1976b).

Over the next fifteen years, strikes were local, and the Legislature passed special laws to end some of them. Speaking in the Legislature in 1992, a Liberal member counted “some 56 strikes” from 1975-76 to 1991, which had kept 789,675 students out of class for a total of 1,331 days; the Commission had found a school year in jeopardy only eight times (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 1992). He did not give a source for these figures, and the Commission’s annual reports are not online. A New Democratic member replied that once back-to-school laws were no longer used automatically, “teachers’ strikes became shorter and less frequent” (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 1992).

Preparation time was the issue in the best-known strike of the period. About 9,600 Metro Toronto elementary teachers struck in September 1987 for guaranteed time to prepare lessons; the strike ended after 18 days with an agreement that included preparation time, according to ETFO’s later account (Brown 2004).

1993: the Social Contract

The first province-wide pay restraint came from the New Democratic government of Bob Rae. In March 1993 the government suspended bargaining with about 950,000 public employees pending a “social contract” (Johnson 1993, 1). Its aim was to cut public sector compensation by about $2 billion as the province sought to reduce its deficit (Wrobel 1993). The Social Contract Act, 1993 named school boards as one of its sectors. Where no local agreement was reached, it froze pay from 14 June 1993 to 31 March 1996 (s. 24(1)), and it allowed employers to require up to twelve days of unpaid leave in each year of that period (s. 25(1)). Employees earning less than $30,000 a year were protected (Social Contract Act, 1993). In the Legislature, members of both opposition parties said the measures had disrupted teacher bargaining; one noted young teachers “who cannot move across the grid for three years” (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 1993). The same government passed three laws to settle local teacher disputes in 1993, in Lambton, East Parry Sound and Windsor (Lambton County Board of Education and Teachers Dispute Settlement Act, 1993; East Parry Sound Board of Education and Teachers Dispute Settlement Act, 1993; Windsor Teachers Dispute Settlement Act, 1993).

For parents, this era meant disruption that depended on where they lived. A strike in one board could close its schools for weeks while the next board was untouched.

4. The Province Takes Over, 1995 to 2003

From about 129 boards to 72

The Harris government, elected in June 1995, changed the system in two laws passed in 1997. The first was the Fewer School Boards Act, 1997 (Bill 104). Introducing it, Education Minister John Snobelen told the Legislature: “We will cut the 129 major school boards in Ontario by almost half” (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 1997a). The regulation that set up the new boards established 31 English-language public, 29 English-language Catholic, four French-language public and eight French-language Catholic district school boards: 72 in all (O. Reg. 185/97). They took office on 1 January 1998. The government expected the number of trustees to fall from almost 1,900 to about 700, and trustee pay was capped at an honorarium of $5,000 (Mathe 1997). An Education Improvement Commission oversaw the transition (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 1997d).

Sources give different counts for the boards before amalgamation, from 122 to 168, depending on whether they include small isolate boards, school authorities and French-language sections. This article uses the Minister’s figure of 129 major boards.

Bill 160 and the 1997 province-wide protest

The second law was the Education Quality Improvement Act, 1997 (Bill 160). It gave the province authority over the levying of school taxes and the funding of boards (CBC Archives n.d.). It set average class sizes of 25 pupils in elementary schools and 22 in secondary schools (s. 170.1) and minimum teaching time of 1,300 minutes per five days in elementary schools and 1,250 in secondary schools (s. 170.2). It would cut secondary teachers’ preparation time by about a third, to 50 minutes a day (Janigan and others 1997). It moved teacher bargaining under the ordinary Labour Relations Act, 1995, and it removed principals and vice-principals from the teachers’ bargaining units (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 1997b).

The federations called it an attack on bargaining and on classroom funding. From Monday 27 October to Friday 7 November 1997, some 126,000 teachers stopped work in a province-wide political protest (CBC Archives n.d.). During the protest the government withdrew the clauses that would have allowed non-certified instructors to take charge of classes (Ontario College of Teachers 1997). On 3 November 1997, Justice James MacPherson of the Ontario Court (General Division) refused the government’s application for an injunction to order teachers back, finding that the teachers had made their decision “in a careful, concerned and reluctant fashion” (Janigan and others 1997). Teachers returned on 10 November. Bill 160 passed third reading on 1 December 1997 by 81 votes to 48 and received Royal Assent on 8 December (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 1997b; 1997c).

The province gained control of education taxes and the funding formula, class size and teaching time in law, and principals outside the unions. From 1998, boards “can no longer raise or requisition property taxes for their own purposes” (Ontario Ministry of Education n.d.a). Teachers lost secondary preparation time and their principals as fellow members. Boards lost their taxing power and most of their trustees.

1998 to 2001: what counts as teaching time

The first round under the new rules turned on the minutes. In September 1998 the Legislature passed the Back to School Act, 1998 in a single day, ending strikes and lockouts at eight boards. Its preamble named the cause: “differing interpretations of the standards contained in the Education Act, and in particular, the meaning of ‘instruction’” (Back to School Act, 1998, preamble). Further back-to-school laws followed for Hamilton-Wentworth elementary teachers in 2000, and for support staff in Toronto and Windsor in 2001, the latter ending a strike by CUPE Local 4400 at the Toronto District School Board (Back to School Act (Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board), 2000; Back to School Act (Toronto and Windsor), 2001).

When teachers withdrew from coaching and clubs, the government made those activities a legal duty. The Education Accountability Act, 2000 (Bill 74) provided: “It is the duty of a secondary school teacher and a secondary school temporary teacher to participate in co-instructional activities, in such manner and at such times as the principal directs” (s. 264(1.3), as enacted), with the same duty for elementary teachers. It also required secondary teachers to be assigned on average to at least 6.67 courses and lowered the class size averages to 24.5 in elementary and 21 in secondary schools (Education Accountability Act, 2000). A year later the government stepped back. The Stability and Excellence in Education Act, 2001 (Bill 80) repealed the teacher’s duty to take part in co-instructional activities, replacing it with a duty on principals to plan them; it required every teacher agreement to run for three years; and it created a recertification program requiring teachers to complete fourteen courses every five years (Stability and Excellence in Education Act, 2001). The Quality in the Classroom Act, 2001 added a qualifying test for new teachers and a performance appraisal system.

The testing measures did not last. The next government repealed the recertification program in 2004 (Professional Learning Program Cancellation Act, 2004) and replaced the qualifying test with a New Teacher Induction Program in 2006 (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 2006). Teacher performance appraisal remains.

2002: supervisors for boards that would not cut

In 2002 the dispute moved to the boards themselves. On 31 July 2002, Toronto District School Board trustees again voted against a balanced budget (Globe and Mail 2002). The province appointed supervisors to take over the Toronto, Ottawa-Carleton and Hamilton-Wentworth public boards, leaving almost a quarter of Ontario’s public school students under provincial control (Reid 2002). In December 2002, the province’s own Education Equality Task Force, chaired by Mordechai Rozanski, found that the funding formula’s benchmark costs were for the most part “based on 1997 board costs” and recommended about $1.77 billion in increases (Rozanski 2002). The last back-to-school laws of the era followed: for Simcoe Muskoka Catholic secondary teachers in November 2002, and for Toronto Catholic elementary teachers, who had been locked out by their board, in June 2003 (Back to School Act (Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board), 2002; Back to School (Toronto Catholic Elementary) and Education and Provincial Schools Negotiations Amendment Act, 2003).

5. Peace by Framework, 2003 to 2011

The Liberal government elected in October 2003 tried a different approach. Before 2004, as the Auditor General later put it, bargaining “occurred only at the local level”; in 2004 and again in 2008, the government offered extra funding if local bargaining produced four-year agreements that included its terms (Auditor General of Ontario 2014, 11). Those terms were set in talks among the province, the federations and the trustee associations, known as the Provincial Discussion Table (Ontario Public School Boards’ Association 2008).

The 2004 framework funded salary increases of 2, 2, 2.5 and 3 per cent over four years, together with funding for more teachers “that will benefit students, but also assist with teacher workload and preparation time”. Its conditions included four-year agreements reached without strikes, significant work-to-rule or lockouts (Jefferson 2008, 22). Alongside it, the government set primary class size targets: by 2007-08 at least 90 per cent of primary classes were to have 20 or fewer students, and none more than 23 (Naylor 2007).

The 2008 framework offered 3 per cent a year for four years, smaller classes in Grades 4 to 8 and more specialist teachers (Catholic Register 2008). ETFO did not sign by the deadline. The province then funded raises for public elementary teachers of “only two per cent for two years” (Ontario Ministry of Education 2008), and ETFO members received 2 per cent in 2008-09 and 2009-10 while other teachers received 3 per cent, a gap closed only in 2014 (Auditor General of Ontario 2014, 24 to 25). Average class size in Grades 4 to 8 fell from 25.7 in 2003-04 to 24.9 in 2008-09 (Davis 2009).

For families, these eight years were the quietest of the period. The province paid for these agreements with new funding, and their main terms were set before local bargaining began (Auditor General of Ontario 2014, 11).

6. Restraint and Bill 115, 2012 to 2013

In 2012 the province sought a two-year freeze. Its opening position, in the spring of 2012, was 0 per cent increases, a freeze on movement up the salary grid and an end to banked sick days (Auditor General of Ontario 2014, 12). The Catholic trustees’ association left the talks on 4 July 2012, and on 5 July the Ministry reached a memorandum of understanding directly with the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) (Auditor General of Ontario 2014, 12). Its terms included no salary increases for two years, ten sick days a year at full pay in place of the old plans, three unpaid professional activity days, a delay in grid movement until the 97th day of the school year, and a freeze on retirement payouts (Auditor General of Ontario 2014, 12 to 13).

The sick leave change was the largest. Under the old plans, most board employees had about 20 sick days a year, and unused days could be banked; on retirement, some could receive a gratuity worth up to half a year’s salary (Auditor General of Ontario 2014, 15 to 16). The new terms ended both.

The Putting Students First Act, 2012 (Bill 115) received Royal Assent on 11 September 2012. It required local agreements to be consistent with the OECTA terms by 31 December 2012, and it allowed the Cabinet to impose agreements and prohibit strikes (Auditor General of Ontario 2014, 13; Legislative Assembly of Ontario 2012). ETFO held one-day strikes at a series of boards in December 2012 (CBC News 2012). On 3 January 2013 the government imposed contracts on about 130,000 teachers, making any strike illegal for their term (CBC News 2013a). The Act was repealed on 23 January 2013, but “the terms and conditions of the collective agreements remained in force” (Auditor General of Ontario 2014, 14).

For many students the cost was much of a school year without clubs and teams, as teachers withdrew from voluntary activities. OSSTF suspended its withdrawal in February 2013 (CBC News 2013b). The government reached new memoranda with OSSTF on 9 April 2013 and ETFO on 12 June 2013, which cut the unpaid days, raised the payout on retirement gratuities and closed ETFO’s salary gap (Auditor General of Ontario 2014, 14, 24).

The Auditor General found the government’s estimate of about $2.1 billion in savings over two years reasonable, but most of it, about $1.3 billion, was an accounting adjustment for eliminating banked sick days rather than cash (Auditor General of Ontario 2014, 5). In 2016 the Superior Court ruled that the government had “substantially interfered” with meaningful collective bargaining, contrary to the Charter (Canadian Press 2016; OPSEU v. Ontario, 2016 ONSC 2197). Remedies followed: about $50 million for OSSTF members, $56.7 million for CUPE members and $2.75 million for OPSEU members in 2017 (Canadian Press 2017; CUPE Ontario 2017), and up to $103.1 million for ETFO members, under a remedy award issued in February 2022 (Di Pasquale 2022). Sick days were not restored to their former level, and banked sick days and the retirement gratuity did not return.

7. Two-Tier Bargaining, 2014 to 2018

The government then wrote central bargaining into law. The School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014 (Bill 122) set up “a formal framework for two-tiered bargaining”: central tables of the government, the trustee associations and the unions, and local bargaining between boards and unions “for all other issues” (Auditor General of Ontario 2014, 11 to 12). The Crown is required to take part in central bargaining but not local bargaining, and disputes about which issues are central go to the Ontario Labour Relations Board (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 2014).

The first round under the Act was long. The agreements expired in August 2014. In 2015, OSSTF’s president said class size limits were the main stumbling block, and ETFO’s issues included preparation time, supervision and hiring rules (Canadian Press 2015a; CBC News 2015a). OSSTF struck at the Durham, Rainbow and Peel boards from 20 April, 27 April and 4 May 2015 (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 2015). On 26 May the Ontario Labour Relations Board ruled the three strikes unlawful because they were in part about class size, a central issue (Canadian Press 2015b). The Protecting the School Year Act, 2015 ended them two days later, sending local issues to mediation-arbitration (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 2015). More than 70,000 students had been out of class (Canadian Press 2015b). ETFO’s work-to-rule, including no report card comments, lasted into November 2015 (CBC News 2015a; Miller 2015).

The settlements were “net zero”: raises were to be offset by savings within the agreements (Shum 2015). Secondary teachers received a 1 per cent lump sum, a 1 per cent raise in September 2016 and another half per cent later, with no increases to class size limits (Canadian Press 2015c); the Minister said, “we have not changed class size in either agreement” (Shum 2015). The province also paid OSSTF $1 million, OECTA $1 million and AEFO $500,000 toward their bargaining costs (CBC News 2015b). The Auditor General found that the government had committed $3.8 million to unions for bargaining costs between 2008 and 2015, and about $11.1 million to trustee associations for the 2014-15 round, and called the payments “unusual” (Auditor General of Ontario 2016).

In 2017 the government extended the agreements by two years, to 31 August 2019, with 4 per cent in raises, a 0.5 per cent lump sum, a $218.9 million Local Priorities Fund for added staff, a cap on kindergarten class sizes and smaller Grade 4 to 8 classes (Paul 2017; Jones 2017). It meant no education bargaining before the June 2018 election (CBC News 2017).

8. Caps, Courts and Arbitration, 2018 to 2025

2019 to 2020: class size and online courses

In March 2019 the new Ford government announced that secondary schools would move to an average class size of 28, that secondary students would take four online credits, and that the Local Priorities Fund would expire on 31 August 2019 (Naylor 2019). The province said it would provide attrition protection for up to four years, and later set aside $1.6 billion so that there would be no layoffs (Naylor 2019; Jones 2019). In November 2019 the Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019 (Bill 124) limited salary increases across the public sector, including school boards, to 1 per cent a year for three years (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 2019).

All four teachers’ federations took job action in 2019-20: OSSTF and ETFO from November 2019 and OECTA and AEFO from January 2020, with rotating and province-wide one-day strikes from December 2019 and a joint province-wide strike by all four on 21 February 2020 (Rocca 2020). CUPE’s support staff settled in the fall of 2019 (CUPE Ontario 2019). The province moved twice: to two online credits and an average of 25 in November 2019, then to an average of 23 and an opt-out from online courses in March 2020 (CTV News 2019; Jones 2020). The settlements, reached between March and April 2020 as schools closed for the pandemic, gave 1 per cent a year in salary, larger increases in benefit funding and a Supports for Students Fund; the funded secondary class size was “reduced from 28 to 23” (Canadian Press 2020; Davis 2020). Later in 2020 the province revoked the regulation that had required boards to hire long-term occasional teachers by seniority (Patton 2020).

2022: Bill 28 and the notwithstanding clause

In 2022 the province’s dispute was with its support staff. CUPE asked for $3.25 an hour a year, and said the province had offered 33 to 53 cents an hour (CTV News 2022). On 3 November 2022 the Legislature passed the Keeping Students in Class Act, 2022 (Bill 28). It imposed a four-year agreement, prohibited strikes and declared that it would operate “notwithstanding sections 2, 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms”, with fines of up to $4,000 a day for individuals and $500,000 a day for others, such as a union (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 2022a). About 55,000 education workers stopped work on 4 and 7 November, closing many schools (Jackson 2022). On 7 November the Premier offered to rescind the law, and its repeal, which deemed it “to have never been in force”, received Royal Assent on 14 November (Rodrigues 2022; Legislative Assembly of Ontario 2022b). The settlement gave $1 an hour in each year, about 3.59 per cent a year on average (Jones 2022).

Bill 124 in the courts, and arbitration

Ten unions challenged Bill 124, in a case named for OECTA. The Superior Court struck it down in November 2022 (Roth and others 2022), and in February 2024 the Court of Appeal agreed that it was unconstitutional “only insofar as it applied to unionized workers” (Borden Ladner Gervais 2024; Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association v. Ontario (Attorney General), 2024 ONCA 101). The government repealed the Act later that month (Hicks Morley 2024). For OSSTF and ETFO members, an arbitration award in February 2024 brought increases for 2019 to 2022 to 7.25 per cent in all, including the 1 per cent a year Bill 124 had allowed (CP24 2024; OSSTF 2024).

For the 2022 to 2026 agreements, the province and the teachers’ federations turned to binding arbitration. OSSTF agreed in August 2023 to send any matters still outstanding to arbitration (Sweeney 2023). ETFO’s central agreement in November 2023 sent its outstanding items to arbitration, AEFO’s in February 2024 did the same for matters such as salary, and OECTA reached a tentative agreement in March 2024; the AEFO and OECTA agreements ruled out strikes or province-wide job action for the rest of the term (Callan and D’Mello 2023; Canadian Press 2024a; Canadian Press 2024b). ETFO said the province’s offer had been 1.25 per cent a year (CP24 2023). In May 2024, arbitrator William Kaplan awarded OSSTF and ETFO teachers 3, 3, 2.75 and 2.5 per cent, or 11.73 per cent compounded over four years (Fullerton 2024).

2025: supervision returns

In 2025 the province again took control of boards, this time over deficits and spending. It appointed a supervisor at Thames Valley in April 2025 and at four more boards in June 2025 (Tsekouras 2025), and by October 2026 eight boards were under supervision, with no date for any of them to return to trustee control (Shakyaver 2025; Lavoie 2026). The Supporting Children and Students Act, 2025 (Bill 33) lets the Minister vest control of a board directly, rather than through the Cabinet, and requires boards to work with local police services (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 2025).

9. Support Staff and Educational Assistants

Most of this history is about teachers, but school boards also employ educational assistants, early childhood educators, custodians, secretaries, librarians and other support staff. They are not covered by the Teaching Profession Act, which applies to members of the Ontario College of Teachers employed by a board as teachers (Teaching Profession Act, s. 1). The largest group belongs to CUPE, which represented about 55,000 school board workers in 2019 (CUPE Ontario 2019). OSSTF and ETFO also represent support staff, OPSEU represents more than 2,600 in nine bargaining units, and several other unions represent the rest (OPSEU 2014).

Until 2014 support staff bargained board by board, and their disputes were local. In 2001 the province ended strikes by support staff at the Toronto District School Board and the Windsor-Essex Catholic board by law (Back to School Act (Toronto and Windsor), 2001), and CUPE workers at the Durham District School Board struck in March 2007 (CUPE 2007). Bill 115 applied to support staff as well as teachers (CUPE Ontario 2017). CUPE reached a tentative agreement with the province on 30 December 2012, the day before the deadline the Act set (CTV News 2012), and after the 2016 ruling CUPE reached a $56.7 million remedy settlement (CUPE Ontario 2017).

The 2014 Act brought support staff into central bargaining. CUPE was designated as the employee bargaining agency for almost all of its school board units other than teachers, facing a council of the four trustee associations (O. Reg. 159/14, s. 2). Since then CUPE has worked to rule in 2015, until a tentative deal on 2 November (Miller 2015); came within a day of a province-wide strike in October 2019 (CUPE Ontario 2019); and in November 2022 held the two-day strike described above, after the Keeping Students in Class Act, 2022 tried to ban it.

For parents, the difference matters. When support staff stop work, boards may close schools even when teachers are at work, as several did in November 2022 (Jackson 2022). The companion article on educational assistants, to be published on 13 November, sets out what EAs are paid, how often they are absent and injured, and what the rules require of school boards.

10. The 2026 Round

The agreements expired on 31 August 2026. Before notice was served, the Putting Student Achievement First Act, 2026 (Bill 101) changed who sits on the employer side. It amended the 2014 Act to “designate the Council of Ontario Directors of Education” as the employer bargaining agency for English-language boards in place of the trustee associations (Legislative Assembly of Ontario 2026). The council brings together the boards’ directors of education, the senior staff who lead the boards, rather than their elected trustees (Council of Ontario Directors of Education n.d.).

The five major education unions served notice to bargain on 3 June 2026, naming student needs, violence in schools, special education, class sizes and staffing (Wilson 2026). Bargaining then stalled over which issues are central and which local, a question referred to the Ontario Labour Relations Board (Jones 2026a). The Ministry said the first step, at this early stage of bargaining, is to decide which issues are central and which local (Tsekouras 2026). The unions say 13 items are before the Board, including surplus, transfers and layoffs, and OSSTF’s president said the government “wants to centralize almost everything” (Gaidola 2026; Tsekouras 2026). The Minister has said he is “very optimistic” (Gaidola 2026). At the time of writing, School Board Research had not found a published decision from the Board.

All five unions are holding strike votes in November: CUPE’s school board workers from 4 to 18 November, OSSTF from 6 to 16 November, ETFO from 9 to 18 November, OECTA on 12 and 13 November, and AEFO on 16 and 17 November (Jones 2026b; Zhu 2026).

11. What the Record Shows

Every governing party has legislated

Table 1 lists the laws School Board Research found that ended school strikes or lockouts, or imposed or capped education workers’ terms. The list for 1977 to 1992 is incomplete.

Government	Party	Laws found
Davis (1971 to 1985)	Progressive Conservative	York County (1974); Metropolitan Toronto, Kirkland Lake, Central Algoma (sent to final offer selection) and Sault Ste. Marie (1976); Leeds and Grenville (1981)
Rae (1990 to 1995)	New Democratic	Social Contract Act, 1993; Lambton County, East Parry Sound and Windsor (1993)
Harris (1995 to 2002)	Progressive Conservative	Education Quality Improvement Act, 1997 (Bill 160); Back to School Act, 1998 (eight boards); Education Accountability Act, 2000 (Bill 74); Hamilton-Wentworth elementary (2000); Toronto and Windsor support staff (2001)
Eves (2002 to 2003)	Progressive Conservative	Simcoe Muskoka Catholic secondary (2002); Toronto Catholic elementary (2003)
McGuinty (2003 to 2013)	Liberal	Putting Students First Act, 2012 (Bill 115)
Wynne (2013 to 2018)	Liberal	Protecting the School Year Act, 2015 (Bill 103)
Ford (2018 to present)	Progressive Conservative	Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019 (Bill 124); Keeping Students in Class Act, 2022 (Bill 28)

The same issues recur

The issues have hardly changed in fifty years. Class size was central in 1997, 2015 and 2019-20. Preparation time and workload were at stake in 1987, 1997, the 2004 to 2012 frameworks and 2015. Pay restraint and sick leave defined 1993, 2012 and 2019. And the question of who decides, the province, the board or the bargaining table, ran through 1973, 1997, 2014 and 2026.

Centralization and its costs to local control

The record shows decisions moving from elected trustees to the province. Since 1998, boards cannot set their own education taxes. Since 2014, pay and other major terms have been settled centrally with the Crown at the table. Since 2026, the employer at the central table for English-language boards is a council of directors of education. And eight boards are run by provincial supervisors, appointed after the province found what it called financial mismanagement (Shakyaver 2025; Tsekouras 2025). For a parent, this means that much of what decides how a child’s school is staffed is now settled at Queen’s Park and at the central tables, not by the trustees parents elect.

Laws that imposed terms were often reversed

Several of the laws that imposed terms were repealed or struck down, although some of their effects lasted. The 2000 duty to take part in co-instructional activities was repealed the next year. Bill 115 was repealed within months, found to breach the Charter and cost more than $200 million in remedies. Bill 124 was struck down for unionized workers, and the Financial Accountability Office estimated that remedies across the public sector would cost about $13.7 billion from 2022 to 2028 (CTV News 2024). Bill 28 was repealed eleven days after it passed. The 2004 and 2008 frameworks and the 2022 to 2026 arbitration ran their full four-year terms without province-wide strikes.

Families have borne the disruption: 140,000 Toronto secondary students out for weeks in 1975-76, 126,000 teachers off the job for two weeks in 1997, months of lost activities in 2012-13, more than 70,000 students out in 2015, a series of strike days in 2019-20 and two days of closures in 2022.

12. Conclusion: Ask Who Decides

The next agreements will be settled, as they have been since 2014, mostly at central tables where the Crown sits, and now with directors of education rather than trustees on the employer side. The people who answer for those decisions are the Minister of Education and the governing party’s MPPs. Local terms are still bargained by each board, and at eight boards those decisions are made by a provincial supervisor. Parents have standing to ask: there were 2,095,193 students in Ontario’s publicly funded schools in 2024-25, taught by the equivalent of 128,430 full-time teachers (Ontario Ministry of Education n.d.b). Those figures do not count families whose children attend private schools or are home-schooled.

1. Ask your MPP what is being decided centrally, and to publish the cost. Find your MPP by street address and postal code at ola.org. Ask which issues the government wants moved from local to central bargaining, and ask it to publish each central agreement and its cost when it is ratified, rather than leaving the cost to be audited years later, as happened in 2014 and 2016.
2. Ask your board how it will keep you informed. Write to your trustees, or at a supervised board to the supervisor, and ask the board to post its local agreements on its website and to tell parents promptly, school by school, if job action affects classes, buses or activities.
3. Ask both sides what their proposals mean for students. Write to the Minister of Education, your MPP and your local union, and ask what each proposal will do for class size, special education support and safety. The companion primer, to be published on 12 November, sets out what teachers are paid and how Ontario’s results compare.
4. Check your own board. See your board’s published results on the Board Report Card, and read “Outside the Room” for how parents have changed provincial policy before.

Eighty years of disputes show that the system keeps changing. Parents are rarely at the table when it does, but they can ask who decides, and what it will cost.

Annex: Data, Method and Limitations

Sources. This history draws on statutes and regulations (e-Laws and the annual statutes held by the Osgoode Hall Law School library), the Legislative Assembly’s bill pages and Hansard, court rulings, reports of the Auditor General, Ministry of Education memoranda, a Royal Commission report, peer-reviewed and university publications, and contemporary news reports. Statements by unions, trustee associations and law firms are reported as their positions. Quotations are given word for word from the source cited.

Board counts. Counts of boards before 1969 and before 1998 differ between sources because they count different kinds of boards (for example, small isolate boards, school authorities and French-language sections). This article uses the Minister of Education’s figures for 1968 and 1969, as reported by TVO, and the Minister’s figure of 129 major boards in 1997. The figure of 72 boards is from O. Reg. 185/97.

Strike counts and back-to-school laws. No complete public count of school strikes in Ontario was found online. The 1975 to 1991 figures are a member’s statement in the Legislature and are reported as such. Table 1 lists the laws found in the annual statutes and on e-Laws for the years searched; the years 1977 to 1992 were not searched in full, so the table is a minimum. Laws passed under the Miller and Peterson governments (1985 to 1990) were not confirmed.

Money. The ETFO Bill 115 amount is the maximum set by the 2022 remedy award. Remedy amounts are as reported by the government, the courts or the unions at the time. The OSSTF remedy for Bill 115 was reported both as $25 million for sick leave plus a paid day off and as about $50 million in total; this article uses the total. The Bill 124 cost estimate is the Financial Accountability Office’s estimate for the whole public sector, as reported in the news; it is not specific to education.

Current events. The 2026 section reflects public reporting to 5 November 2026. A Labour Relations Board decision on central and local issues may have been issued after that date.

Shareable Images

These images are free to share. Please link to this article when you do.

Background photos: Ronin and Wesley Tingey on Unsplash.

References

• Auditor General of Ontario. 2014. Special Report: Education Sector Collective Agreements (September 1, 2012–August 31, 2014). November 2014. https://www.auditor.on.ca/en/content/specialreports/specialreports/education_en.pdf
• Auditor General of Ontario. 2016. Government Payments to Education-Sector Unions. Special Report, summary, 18 May 2016. https://www.auditor.on.ca/en/content/downloads/Summary%20%E2%80%93%20Government%20Payments%20to%20Education-Sector%20Unions,%20Special%20Report,%20May%2018,%202016.pdf
• Back to School (Toronto Catholic Elementary) and Education and Provincial Schools Negotiations Amendment Act, 2003, S.O. 2003, c. 2. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/03b02
• Back to School Act (Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board), 2000, S.O. 2000, c. 23. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/00b23
• Back to School Act (Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board), 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 20. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/02b20/v1
• Back to School Act (Toronto and Windsor), 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 1. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/01b01/v1
• Back to School Act, 1998, S.O. 1998, c. 13. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/98b13/v1
• Borden Ladner Gervais. 2024. “Bill 124 Ruled Unconstitutional, and Arbitrator Kaplan Awards 2.75 Per Cent Compensation Increase for Ontario Teachers.” February 2024. https://www.blg.com/en/insights/2024/02/bill-124-ruled-unconstitutional-and-arbitrator-kaplan-awards-compensation-increase
• Bradburn, Jamie. 2025. “How Ontario Consolidated Its School Boards, and Set the Stage for Education Fights That Still Rage Today.” TVO Today, 21 November 2025. https://www.tvo.org/article/how-ontario-consolidated-its-school-boards-and-set-the-stage-for-education-fights-that-still-rage
• Brown, Christine. 2004. “Campaign 200: Preparation Time for Elementary Teachers.” ETFO Voice, Spring 2004. https://etfovoice.ca/feature/campaign-200-preparation-time-elementary-teachers
• Callan, Isaac, and Colin D’Mello. 2023. “Ontario Reaches Tentative Deal with Elementary School Teachers.” Global News, 21 November 2023. https://globalnews.ca/news/10105600/ontario-elementary-teachers-reach-contract-deal
• Canadian Press. 2015a. “Government, Teachers Committed to Negotiations Despite Stalled Talks.” CTV News Toronto, May 2015. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/government-teachers-committed-to-negotiations-despite-stalled-talks-1.2388421
• Canadian Press. 2015b. “Labour Board Rules Three Strikes at Ontario School Boards Illegal.” Global News, 26 May 2015. https://globalnews.ca/news/2018810/labour-board-rules-three-strikes-at-ontario-school-boards-illegal/
• Canadian Press. 2015c. “Briefing Shows Ontario Secondary School Teachers to Get Raise, Lump Sum Payment.” CTV News Kitchener, August 2015. https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/briefing-shows-ontario-secondary-school-teachers-to-get-raise-lump-sum-payment-1.2528909
• Canadian Press. 2016. “Ontario ‘Substantially Interfered’ with Teachers’ Bargaining Rights: Court.” Global News, 20 April 2016. https://globalnews.ca/news/2652200/ontario-substantially-interfered-with-teachers-bargaining-rights-court
• Canadian Press. 2017. “Ontario Owes Teachers, Education Workers More Than $100M for Violating Rights.” Global News, 15 June 2017. https://globalnews.ca/news/3531227/ontario-owes-teachers-education-workers-more-than-100m-for-violating-rights/
• Canadian Press. 2020. “Ontario Elementary Teachers Get Salary, Benefits Boosts in Tentative Contract Deal.” Global News, 31 March 2020. https://globalnews.ca/news/6756487/etfo-ontario-elementary-teachers-contract-deal
• Canadian Press. 2024a. “Ontario Reaches Deal with Teachers in French-Language Public System.” CTV News Toronto, 15 February 2024. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-reaches-deal-with-teachers-in-french-language-public-system-1.6770701
• Canadian Press. 2024b. “Ontario Reaches Tentative Deal with Catholic Teachers, Ensuring No Strikes.” Global News, 5 March 2024. https://globalnews.ca/news/10336118/ontario-catholic-teachers-deal-2024
• Catholic Register. 2008. “Deal Guarantees School Labour Peace in Ontario.” 19 June 2008. https://catholicregister.org/features/catholic-education/item/11706-deal-guarantees-school-labour-peace-in-ontario
• CBC Archives. n.d. “Why Ontario Teachers Went on a Province-Wide Strike in 1997.” https://www.cbc.ca/archives/why-ontario-teachers-went-on-a-province-wide-strike-in-1997-1.5466962
• CBC News. 2012. “Elementary Teachers Union Announces First Strike.” December 2012. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/elementary-teachers-union-announces-first-strike-1.1161806
• CBC News. 2013a. “Ontario Imposes Contracts on Public School Teachers.” 3 January 2013. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/headlines/ontario-imposes-contracts-on-public-school-teachers-1.1313248
• CBC News. 2013b. “Extra-Curricular Activities Returning to Ontario Public High Schools.” February 2013. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/extra-curricular-activities-returning-to-ontario-public-high-schools-1.1316028
• CBC News. 2015a. “Ontario Elementary Teachers Begin Work-to-Rule Campaign, Negotiations.” May 2015. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/1.3068922
• CBC News. 2015b. “Education Minister Defends $2.5 Million in Union Payouts for Lengthy Bargaining.” 21 October 2015. https://www.cbc.ca/news/1.3282236
• CBC News. 2017. “Contract Extension for Ontario Teachers Brings 4% Raises over Next 2 Years.” The Canadian Press, 12 April 2017. https://www.cbc.ca/news/1.4068721
• Central Algoma Board of Education and Teachers Dispute Act, 1976, S.O. 1976, c. 25. https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ontario_statutes/vol1976/iss1/30
• Council of Ontario Directors of Education. n.d. “About.” https://ontariodirectors.ca/about
• CP24. 2023. “Three Ontario Teachers’ Unions Are Still Without a Deal. Here’s What You Need to Know.” 22 November 2023. https://www.cp24.com/news/three-ontario-teachers-unions-are-still-without-a-deal-here-s-what-you-need-to-know-1.6655953
• CP24. 2024. “Ontario Teachers to Get 2.75 Per Cent Retroactive Pay Due to Bill 124.” 9 February 2024. https://www.cp24.com/news/ontario-teachers-to-get-2-75-per-cent-retroactive-pay-due-to-bill-124-1.6763223
• CTV News. 2012. “Ontario Reaches Tentative Deal with Union Representing School Support Workers.” 30 December 2012. https://www.ctvnews.ca/kitchener/article/ontario-reaches-tentative-deal-with-union-representing-school-support-workers/
• CTV News. 2019. “High School Students Will Now Have to Take Two Online Courses to Graduate.” CTV News Toronto, November 2019. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/high-school-students-will-now-have-to-take-two-online-courses-to-graduate-1.4696447
• CTV News. 2022. “Ontario Education Workers to Release Results of Strike Vote This Morning.” CTV News Toronto, October 2022. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-education-workers-to-release-results-of-strike-vote-this-morning-1.6093126
• CTV News. 2024. “Ontario Bill 124 Could Cost Government over $13B, FAO Report Suggests.” CTV News Toronto, February 2024. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-bill-124-could-cost-government-over-13b-fao-report-suggests-1.6767007
• CUPE. 2007. “FastFacts March 30, 2007.” 30 March 2007. https://cupe.ca/node/284617
• CUPE Ontario. 2017. News release on the Bill 115 remedy settlement for education workers. 2017. https://cupe.on.ca/cupe-education-workers-reach-agreement-bill-115-remedy-provincial-government/
• CUPE Ontario. 2019. News release on the tentative central agreement for education workers. October 2019. https://cupe.on.ca/province-wide-strike-averted-as-cupe-education-workers-reach-tentative-agreement/
• Davis, Andrew. 2009. “2009-10 Primary Class Size Plans.” Memorandum 2009:SB16, Ontario Ministry of Education, 1 May 2009. https://efis.fma.csc.gov.on.ca/faab/Memos/SB2009/SB_16.pdf
• Davis, Andrew. 2020. “2020-21 Grants for Student Needs Funding.” Memorandum 2020:B08, Ontario Ministry of Education, June 2020. https://efis.fma.csc.gov.on.ca/faab/Memos/B2020/B08_EN.pdf
• Di Pasquale, Romina. 2022. “Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) Remedy Award.” Memorandum 2022:SB05, Ontario Ministry of Education, 22 February 2022. https://efis.fma.csc.gov.on.ca/faab/Memos/SB2022/SB05_EN.pdf
• Dugale, Valerie. 2018. “The Beginning: A New Union Is Formed.” ETFO Voice, Fall 2018. https://etfovoice.ca/feature/beginning-new-union-formed
• East Parry Sound Board of Education and Teachers Dispute Settlement Act, 1993, S.O. 1993, c. 24. https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ontario_statutes/vol1993/iss1/26
• Education Accountability Act, 2000, S.O. 2000, c. 11. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/s00011
• Fewer School Boards Act, 1997, S.O. 1997, c. 3. https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ontario_statutes/vol1997/iss1/5
• Fullerton, Owen. 2024. “Teachers Awarded over 11% in Wage Increases.” YGK News, 31 May 2024. https://ygknews.ca/2024/05/31/teachers-awarded-over-11-in-wage-increases/
• Gaidola, Jason. 2026. “Ontario Teachers Keep Strike Action on the Table amid Labour Talks.” CHCH News, 20 August 2026. https://www.chch.com/chch-news/ontario-teachers-keep-strike-action-on-the-table-amid-labour-talks/
• Globe and Mail. 2002. “School Trustees Vote Against Balanced Budget.” 1 August 2002. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/school-trustees-vote-against-balanced-budget/article4138043/
• Hanson, Andy. 2009. “Achieving the Right to Strike: Ontario Teachers’ Unions and Professionalist Ideology.” Just Labour 14 (Autumn 2009): 117 to 128. https://justlabour.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/justlabour/article/view/65
• Hicks Morley. 2024. “Ontario Repeals Bill 124.” 23 February 2024. https://hicksmorley.com/2024/02/23/ontario-repeals-bill-124/
• Jackson, Hannah. 2022. “What You Need to Know as Ontario Education Workers Set to Return to Work.” Global News, 7 November 2022. https://globalnews.ca/news/9258925/cupe-ontario-education-strike-ends-explained
• Janigan, Mary, Anthony Wilson-Smith, Patricia Chisholm and D’Arcy Jenish. 1997. “Ontario Teachers Return to Class.” Maclean’s, 17 November 1997, in The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ontario-teachers-return-to-class-nov97-updates
• Jefferson, Anne L. 2008. “Is Ontario Moving to Provincial Negotiation of Teaching Contracts?” Educational Considerations 36 (1): 21 to 26. https://doi.org/10.4148/0146-9282.1160
• Johnson, David. 1993. “The Ontario Social Contract: Text and Context.” Canada Watch, May/June 1993. https://cwatch.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cwatch/article/view/36600
• Jones, Allison. 2017. “Ontario to Cap Kindergarten Classes, Give Teachers Raises in Tentative Deal.” The Canadian Press, Global News, 14 February 2017. https://globalnews.ca/news/3248304/ontario-to-cap-kindergarten-classes-give-teachers-raises-in-tentative-deal/
• Jones, Allison. 2019. “Province to Put $1.6B Toward Ensuring No Class Size-Related Teacher Layoffs.” The Canadian Press, CTV News Kitchener, 25 April 2019. https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/province-to-put-1-6b-toward-ensuring-no-class-size-related-teacher-layoffs-1.4395192
• Jones, Allison. 2020. “Ontario Government Changes Position on Higher Class Sizes, Mandatory E-Learning.” The Canadian Press, Global News, 3 March 2020. https://globalnews.ca/news/6625163/ontario-schools-class-sizes-e-learning/
• Jones, Allison. 2022. “Ontario CUPE School Staff Vote to Ratify Contract with Government.” The Canadian Press, insauga, 5 December 2022. https://www.insauga.com/ontario-cupe-school-staff-vote-to-ratify-contract-with-government/
• Jones, Allison. 2026a. “Students Set to Head Back to School as New Contract for Ontario Teachers Far Off.” The Canadian Press, CHCH, 20 August 2026. https://www.chch.com/?p=193400
• Jones, Allison. 2026b. “Ontario Public High School Teachers to Hold Strike Vote amid Stalled Bargaining.” The Canadian Press, CP24, 25 September 2026. https://www.cp24.com/local/toronto/2026/09/25/ontario-public-high-school-teachers-to-hold-strike-vote-amid-stalled-bargaining/
• Kirkland Lake Board of Education and Teachers Dispute Act, 1976, S.O. 1976, c. 3. https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ontario_statutes/vol1976/iss1/8
• Labour Relations Act, 1995, S.O. 1995, c. 1, Sched. A. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/95l01
• Lambton County Board of Education and Teachers Dispute Settlement Act, 1993, S.O. 1993, c. 22. https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ontario_statutes/vol1993/iss1/24
• Lavoie, Joanna. 2026. “Trustees at 8 School Boards Have Been Stripped of Their Powers. Here’s Why Some Candidates Still Want the Job.” CP24, 26 October 2026. https://www.cp24.com/local/toronto/2026/10/26/trustees-at-8-ontario-school-boards-under-provincial-supervision-have-been-stripped-of-their-powers-heres-why-some-candidates-say-they-still-want-the-job/
• Leeds and Grenville County Board of Education and Teachers Dispute Act, 1981, S.O. 1981, c. 27. https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ontario_statutes/vol1981/iss1/29
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 1974. Hansard, 13 March 1974. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/house-documents/parliament-29/session-4/1974-03-13/hansard
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 1976a. Hansard, 15 January 1976. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/house-documents/parliament-30/session-2/1976-01-15/hansard
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 1976b. Hansard, 13 April 1976. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/house-documents/parliament-30/session-3/1976-04-13/hansard-1
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 1992. Hansard, 7 May 1992. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/house-documents/parliament-35/session-2/1992-05-07/hansard
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 1993. Hansard, 14 December 1993. https://www.ola.org/fr/affaires-legislatives/documents-chambre/legislature-35/session-3/1993-12-14/journal-debats-1
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 1997a. Hansard, 13 January 1997. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/house-documents/parliament-36/session-1/1997-01-13/hansard
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 1997b. Bill 160, Education Quality Improvement Act, 1997. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-36/session-1/bill-160
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 1997c. Votes and Proceedings, 1 December 1997. https://www.ola.org/fr/affaires-legislatives/documents-chambre/legislature-36/session-1/1997-12-01/proces-verbaux
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 1997d. Bill 104, Fewer School Boards Act, 1997. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-36/session-1/bill-104
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2006. Bill 78, Education Statute Law Amendment Act (Student Performance), 2006. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-38/session-2/bill-78
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2012. Bill 115, Putting Students First Act, 2012. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-40/session-1/bill-115
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2014. Bill 122, School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-40/session-2/bill-122
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2015. Bill 103, Protecting the School Year Act, 2015. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-41/session-1/bill-103
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2019. Bill 124, Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-42/session-1/bill-124
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2022a. Bill 28, Keeping Students in Class Act, 2022. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-43/session-1/bill-28
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2022b. Bill 35, Keeping Students in Class Repeal Act, 2022. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-43/session-1/bill-35
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2025. Bill 33, Supporting Children and Students Act, 2025. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-44/session-1/bill-33
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 2026. Bill 101, Putting Student Achievement First Act, 2026. https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-44/session-1/bill-101
• Mathe, Julie. 1997. “The Fewer School Boards Act, 1997: First Stage in Ontario’s Overhaul of Education Governance.” Emond Harnden LLP, 1 February 1997. https://ehlaw.ca/?p=6272
• Metropolitan Toronto Boards of Education and Teachers Disputes Act, 1976, S.O. 1976, c. 1. https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ontario_statutes/vol1976/iss1/3
• Miller, Adam. 2015. “Ontario Elementary Teachers, Support Staff Reach Tentative Deal, End Strike Action.” Global News, 2 November 2015. https://globalnews.ca/news/2313102/cupe-education-workers-reach-tentative-deal-with-ontario-government-ending-work-to-rule/
• Naylor, Nancy. 2007. “2007-08 Primary Class Size Flexibility and Plans.” Memorandum 2007:B5, Ontario Ministry of Education, 3 May 2007. https://efis.fma.csc.gov.on.ca/faab/Memos/B2007/B_05.pdf
• Naylor, Nancy. 2019. “New Vision for Education.” Memorandum 2019:B08, Ontario Ministry of Education, 15 March 2019. https://efis.fma.csc.gov.on.ca/faab/Memos/B2019/B08_EN.pdf
• O. Reg. 159/14, The 2014 Round of Collective Bargaining, under the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/140159/v1
• O. Reg. 185/97, Establishment, Areas of Jurisdiction and Names of District School Boards (version read: as amended to O. Reg. 486/01). https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/970185
• Ontario College of Teachers. 1997. “Amendments Ensure That Teachers Will Be Qualified.” News release, 30 October 1997. https://sc.oct.ca/public/media/press-releases/1997/19971030
• Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association v. Ontario (Attorney General), 2024 ONCA 101. https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onca/doc/2024/2024onca101/2024onca101.html
• Ontario Ministry of Education. 2008. News release from Minister of Education Kathleen Wynne on the provincial framework deadline, December 2008, reproduced by BayToday. https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/etfo-and-boards-unable-to-reach-agreement-before-the-deadline-44238
• Ontario Ministry of Education. n.d.a. Overview of Education Finance in Ontario, 1998-99. Education Finance Branch. Archived copy: https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130109164339/http:/nces.ed.gov/edfin/pdf/StFinance/Ontario.pdf
• Ontario Ministry of Education. n.d.b. “Education Facts, 2024-2025.” https://www.ontario.ca/page/education-facts
• Ontario Public School Boards’ Association. 2008. “ETFO Turns Its Back on Provincial Framework Agreement.” 6 December 2008. https://www.opsba.org/opsba_news/etfo-turns-its-back-on-provincial-framework-agreement/
• OPSEU v. Ontario, 2016 ONSC 2197. https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2016/2016onsc2197/2016onsc2197.html
• OPSEU. 2014. Presentation to the Standing Committee on the Legislative Assembly on Bill 122, School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014, 26 February 2014. https://opseu.org/?p=154731
• OSSTF. 2024. “Bill 124 Win for Education Workers: Ford Forced to Pay, but Education Still Shortchanged.” 9 February 2024. https://osstf.on.ca/en-CA/news/bill-124-win-for-education-workers-ford-forced-to-pay-but-education-still-shortchanged.aspx
• Patton, Jessica. 2020. “Ontario Government Announces Change to Controversial Teacher Hiring Rule.” Global News, 15 October 2020. https://globalnews.ca/news/7398506/ontario-government-teacher-hiring-practices
• Paul, Joshua. 2017. “Grants for Student Needs for 2017-18.” Memorandum 2017:B04, Ontario Ministry of Education, 12 April 2017. https://efis.fma.csc.gov.on.ca/faab/Memos/B2017/B04_EN.pdf
• Professional Learning Program Cancellation Act, 2004, S.O. 2004, c. 26. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/s04026
• Putting Students First Act, 2012, S.O. 2012, c. 11. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/12p11
• Quality in the Classroom Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 24. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/s01024
• Reid, Karla Scoon. 2002. “Province Takes Over Toronto Schools.” Education Week, 11 September 2002. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/province-takes-over-toronto-schools/2002/09
• Rocca, Ryan. 2020. “Ontario Teachers’ Strike Timeline.” Global News, 21 January 2020, updated 24 April 2020. https://globalnews.ca/news/6433115/ontario-teachers-strike-timeline
• Rodrigues, Gabby. 2022. “CUPE Members Will Return to School after Ford Promises to Rescind Controversial Strike Legislation.” Global News, 7 November 2022. https://globalnews.ca/news/9257574/ontario-doug-ford-repeal-education-law-cupe-strike/
• Roth, Melissa, Michael Piaseczny and Tushar Anandasagar. 2022. “Ontario’s Bill 124 Declared Unconstitutional.” Gowling WLG, 7 December 2022. https://gowlingwlg.com/en/insights-resources/articles/2022/ontario-s-bill-124-declared-unconstitutional/
• Royal Commission on Learning. 1994. For the Love of Learning. Vol. 1. Toronto: Queen’s Printer for Ontario. https://archive.org/details/forloveoflearnin01onta
• Rozanski, Mordechai. 2002. Investing in Public Education: Advancing the Goal of Continuous Improvement in Student Learning and Achievement. Report of the Education Equality Task Force, 10 December 2002. Archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/20041208023026/http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/reports/task02/report.html
• Sault Ste. Marie Board of Education and Teachers Dispute Act, 1976, S.O. 1976, c. 26. https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ontario_statutes/vol1976/iss1/31
• School Boards and Teachers Collective Negotiations Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.2 (repealed). https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90s02
• School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014, S.O. 2014, c. 5. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/14s05
• Shakyaver, Bailey. 2025. “Province Appoints Oversight at Thames Valley District School Board Due to Financial Mismanagement.” CTV News London, 23 April 2025. https://www.ctvnews.ca/london/article/province-appoints-oversight-at-thames-valley-district-school-board-due-to-financial-mismanagement/
• Shum, David. 2015. “Ontario English Catholic Teachers Reach Tentative Deal with Province.” Global News, 25 August 2015. https://globalnews.ca/news/2183779/ontario-english-catholic-teachers-reach-tentative-deal-with-province/
• Social Contract Act, 1993, S.O. 1993, c. 5. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/93s05/v3
• Stability and Excellence in Education Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 14. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/s01014
• Sweeney, Ruby. 2023. “Ontario Public High School Teachers Agree to Bargain with Province.” Sarnia News Today, 25 August 2023. https://sarnianewstoday.ca/chatham/news/2023/08/25/ontario-public-high-school-teachers-agree-to-bargain-with-province
• Teaching Profession Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. T.2. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90t02
• Toronto Star. 1973. “Roaring Their Approval; More Than 22,000 Teachers Jam Maple Leaf Gardens Today.” Photograph caption, 18 December 1973. Toronto Star Photograph Archive, Toronto Public Library Digital Archive. https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/objects/194870/roaring-their-approval-more-than-22000-teachers-jam-maple
• Tsekouras, Phil. 2025. “Ontario Taking over 4 School Boards, Including TDSB, Following Spending Probes.” CTV News Toronto, 27 June 2025. https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/article/ontario-taking-over-4-school-boards-including-tdsb-following-spending-probe/
• Tsekouras, Phil. 2026. “‘We Are Going to Fight’: Ontario Teachers’ Unions Mull Strike Action as Bargaining Talks Stall.” CP24, 18 August 2026. https://www.cp24.com/local/toronto/2026/08/18/ontario-teachers-unions-mull-strike-action-as-bargaining-talks-stall/
• Wilson, Jermaine. 2026. “Ontario Education Unions Serve Formal Notice to Bargain. Here Is What Parents Should Know.” CP24, 3 June 2026. https://www.cp24.com/local/toronto/2026/06/03/ontario-education-unions-serve-formal-notice-to-bargain-here-is-what-parents-should-know/
• Windsor Teachers Dispute Settlement Act, 1993, S.O. 1993, c. 42. https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ontario_statutes/vol1993/iss1/44
• Wrobel, Marion G. 1993. Budgets 1993: Federal and Provincial Responses to Rising Deficits. BP-367E. Ottawa: Library of Parliament, December 1993. http://publications.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/BP/bp367-e.htm
• York County Board of Education Teachers Dispute Act, 1974, S.O. 1974, c. 1. https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ontario_statutes/vol1974/iss1/3
• Zhu, Eva. 2026. “Ontario Education Unions to Hold Strike Votes in November 2026.” NOW Toronto, 27 September 2026. https://nowtoronto.com/news/ontario-education-unions-strike-votes-november-2026/

Legal disclaimer. School Board Research is not a law firm, its researchers are not lawyers, and nothing in this article is legal advice. A reader who needs advice about their own situation should consult a lawyer.

School Board Research publishes independent analysis of Ontario school board data and policy. We are not lawyers, and nothing in this publication is legal advice. If you identify an error, please write to info@schoolboardresearch.ca. Corrections are noted on the page where they are made.