Cutting Trustees Means Cutting Kids Out of Special Education

The Ontario Autism Coalition (OAC) is deeply alarmed by the Ford government’s move to eliminate the role of elected school trustees. For hundreds of thousands of students living with disabilities, and their families, this would be devastating.

At a time when Ontario children and youth already face long waits and inadequate access to vital disability services and supports (e.g., the Ontario Autism Program), schools are often the only source of help they receive. Trustees play a critical role in ensuring families have a voice, providing accountability, and helping resolve problems when students are excluded or cannot access the accommodations they need.

Early results from the OAC 2025 Special Education Survey show that:

These numbers, from across 64 school boards, show that trustees are not a symbolic layer of governance, they are a vital contact point for families, ensuring schools are held accountable to children/youth who too often fall through the cracks.

Removing trustees risks silencing children, youth and their families, worsening school exclusion rates, and leaving more students on modified schedules or out of school entirely. The above survey also revealed that at least 19,376 children and youth with disabilities missed out on school altogether last year, when they had every right to attend. This is unacceptable and without trustees to help advocate, this situation would only worsen.

Removing trustees would strip away one of the few points of accountability that families of students with disabilities can access. Every child and youth in Ontario has the right to a public education, and families have the right to be heard. Eliminating trustees puts both at risk and the Ontario Autism Coalition urges the Ford government to reverse course before more children are excluded from classrooms.