Toronto’s public school board, which challenged the province’s effort to downsize the number of municipal seats, is “disappointed” with Premier Doug Ford’s promise Monday to override a court decision and slash city council size.

“The judge identified flaws as to how the legislation negatively impacted the democratic process,” said Robin Pilkey, chair of the Toronto District School Board. “We are disappointed that the government will not be addressing these issues with the course of action they’ve chosen.”

Her comments came after a whirlwind day beginning with a bombshell ruling in the morning by Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba. He struck down the province’s Bill 5, the Better Local Government Act — it aimed to cut city council from 47 to 25 wards, in alignment with provincial and federal ridings — saying it violated Charter rights and was unconstitutional.

The court ruling was applauded by the TDSB, which had intervener status in supporting the City of Toronto’s legal challenge to overturn the legislation. The TDSB maintains changing electoral boundaries in the middle of an election without public consultation is unfair.

Municipal ward boundaries affect both the TDSB, and the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB). That’s because trustee ward boundaries must align with city wards. Proposed changes mean boards must balance the number of schools across wards, but it does not impact the number of trustees, of which there are 22 public and 12 Catholic.

Earlier this year, the boards approved new trustee ward boundaries to align with the city’s decision to boost the number of wards from 44 to 47. But then Ford said he was going to cut the number to 25, which left them scrambling on how best to assign trustees and, again, redrawing new trustee wards.

On Monday afternoon, the Progressive Conservative premier vowed to move ahead, saying he would invoke the province’s powers and use the notwithstanding clause to override the ruling.

Pilkey says while the TDSB is prepared for both scenarios, 25 or 47 city wards, “we are awaiting a final determination on trustee ward boundaries prior to moving ahead.”

John Yan, spokesperson for the Catholic board, says the TCDSB is “currently in compliance with the direction from the Ontario government to align Catholic trustee wards with provincial and federal ridings.”

“On behalf of the over half-a-million Catholic ratepayers in Toronto, we will continue to monitor the situation and await further guidance from the government or the Ministry of Education.”

Jennifer Arp, the public school trustee for Ward 8 and vice-chair of the TDSB, says use of the notwithstanding clause is “an attack on our city and is undemocratic.”

According to the TDSB’s map of 25 ward boundaries, Arp’s Eglinton-Lawrence ward, would grow to include Toronto-St. Paul’s. That means her original ward of 17 schools — all midtown schools that are over capacity — would swell to 33 schools. Under the proposed 25-ward boundaries, three of the 22 public school trustees would oversee two municipal wards each.

“Trustees in those three wards will be representing over 200,000 electors each,” said Arp, who’s running now for city council. “That really affects service and that affects kids and their education.”

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