Ten for ten: progressive trustee candidates win at the TDSB

School Magazine  – 2026-10-27

WOW! Of the ten progressive trustee candidates endorsed by education workers, labour and community groups across Toronto all ten won a seat on the Toronto District School Board. This is remarkable at a time when the Tory knives are out for local public education. And of course, this success accompanies a win for Mayor Olivia Chow who has a solid mandate to follow up on plans that include serving up school lunch programmes, building supportive and affordable housing and making the TTC economical for more riders.

It’s also good news that progressive trustees have more potential advocates amongst city councillors elected yesterday. Housing advocate, Diana Chan-McNally takes over for Gord Perks in Parkdale-High Park. Tenants-rights worker, Chiara Padovani ran well ahead of longtime incumbent Frances Nunziata in York-South Weston. Former TDSB trustee Sara Erhardt overcame strong opposition in Toronto-Danforth. Mike Layton returns to University-Rosedale. These councillors and others who understand that education starts in the home need to become visible allies of trustees – whether Catholic or Public board members – who struggle, even now, to get a place at the city’s boardroom table.

Welcome to trustees:

      • Matias de Doviitis – Etobicoke North / Humber River- Black Creek
      • Tim Ellis – Etobicoke / Etobicoke Lakeshore
      • Alexis Dawson – Parkdale-High Park / Davenport
      • Brandon Choi – York Centre / Willowdale
      • Jennifer Volk – Spadina Ft. York / Toronto Danforth
      • Deborah Williams – University-Rosedale / Toronto St. Paul’s / Toronto Centre
      • Farzana Rajwani – Don Valley East / Don Valley West
      • Christopher Mammoliti – Don Valley North / Scarborough Agincourt
      • Karen Emerson – Beaches East York / Scarborough Southwest
      • Anu Sriskandarajah – Scarborough Guildwood / Scarborough Rouge Park

These trustees have made promises to back schools with plans like better access to social workers and education assistants. They will fight for nutrition programmes in every school, to make class sizes smaller and expand Special Education funding. They will ensure that schools are inclusive and free from discrimination and systemic bias. They will battle the longstanding school repair backlog, a relic of longstanding government underfunding. Most timely perhaps, they promise to protect TDSB lands from forced sales. This comes amidst reports that TDSB supervisor Rohit Gupta, met with members of the TDSB’s Toronto Lands Corporation far more than parents’ groups or special education advocates – more than anyone else with a stake in the education of Toronto kids.

These trustees have an enormous job ahead and the  odds have been stacked against them and their fellows across the province by the Ford government. It has cut their numbers and pay while taking away much of their ability to make decisions about the fate of local education.

To make matters worse, Ford’s Tories interfered in the elections of the eight school boards under Ministry of Education supervision by changing the rules last week to affect transfer of authority. Trustees, like those in Toronto, will not be sworn in to their offices until Education Minister Paul Calandra says so. Duly elected representatives must wait for his benediction.

This is a violation of the will of the people who elected them. It’s even more reason elected city councils like ours need to rally support for their trustee colleagues to defy this blatant act of autocracy.

As trustee Deborah Williams says, it’s her job to “restore and stop the destruction of the democratic process.”

More about that to come.