Legislatively yes, in practice, very little oversight is done by the Minister or Ministry personnel of school board practices, daily operations and decision-making except when public outcry occurs or parents stage protests.

No, trustees are elected to govern school boards like a board of directors, hire a Director of Education and receive reports from senior staff on which to base decisions on policy and procedures, budget priorities, and other matters related to governance. They will refer a matter of concern to a superintendent to respond.

School boards are contracted education service providers to deliver services to parents and students. They are part of the broader public service (BPS) and operate from taxpayers’ money received from the Ministry of Education every year through funding grants.

School boards are agents of the government which means they must follow the same service standards as the government, however many are still in the process of understanding their role as a public service and implementing a client-based service approach to parents and students.

School boards are provided student grants (per student enrolled, or per credit course enrolled in high school), special education grants, first nations students grants, new Canadians support grants, school bus transportation grants, grants to improve or renovate school buildings and grants to build new schools. Funding formulas are complex but each school board’s allocation in every domain is publicly available online.

Historically, school board funding was established in the Canadian Constitution under provincial jurisdiction as only two provinces (Ontario and Quebec) existed in 1867 when Canada became its own nation. Each province was responsible for education as it joined Confederation in the subsequent years of Canada’s history. Education funding for First Nations students is allocated from the federal government to each province to provide services to these students. Canada is the only G7 nation with no national education strategy.