What’s the fuss over a trustee title?

Less than a week to the municipal election and it's the race for the local school board that still seems to capture headlines.

A lot of extra focus this election cycle appears to be being placed on those vying for a trustee title, but there's still a question of why?

Despite indeed having some important responsibilities, the job title alone does not come with a lot of power as nearly all major education policy or funding decisions are made by the province.

“They may have some influence but they cannot change the curriculum,” said Andrea Perrella, professor of political science, Wilfrid Laurier University. “So if the [Ministry of Education] says these are the topics we're going to cover, these are the themes, these are the objectives, and these are the benchmarks we want [students] to achieve — the school board can't say 'no we're not going to do that'.”

So why all the fuss? Perrella has suggested the factors may be three-fold – though much of it may boil down to a bit of a misunderstanding.

“There is this 'anti-woke' movement expressing itself in various venues, and school boards are one of the latest battlegrounds, I guess, of this culture war,” he said.

That does play into the idea some candidates may not have a full grasp of what exactly the trustee title entails, and Perrella also suggested that could have something to do with what is also happening south of the border.

“In the United States you're seeing the same phenomena where there are groups, particularly conservative groups, that are mobilizing candidates to run for their version of school board trustees,” he said. “But the distinction between American school boards and Ontario school boards is the word 'curriculum'.”

“In American systems, the school boards can determine curriculum, so there there's a bit more of an incentive for potentially the 'anti-woke' movement to insert themselves on school boards to reverse some of those [equality, diversity, and inclusion] policies making the rounds in American schools as well.”

That said, Perrella did also note a school board seat is often seen as a potential stepping stone to a seat on council, in Queen's Park, or even on Parliament Hill.

“And there may be a route that some people think the school boards may offer a chance to acquire public profile and, in a couple years, maybe they'll run for provincial office or federal office.”