On September 1, Doug Ford’s Conservative government in Ontario gave teachers access to “$750 each year to buy classroom supplies.” This year, that $750 can be spent only at Staples. Staples is owned entirely by the U.S. private equity firm Sycamore Partners, which owns several retail brands across North America, after being purchased by the firm in 2017. This initiative gave teachers a mere four business days—including September 4, the Friday before the last long weekend of the summer, and before school started on Tuesday, September 8—to purchase everything needed for the school year, for classes ranging from 20 to 52 students. The delayed rollout caused some teachers and students to return to school before the portal had opened.
This move to give Staples $66 million of taxpayer money in a single vendor contract represents a recurring theme of privatization in Ford’s premiership, as in 2026 alone, more than $56.2 million has been cut from education budgets.
Ford essentially moved $60 million straight from schools into the pockets of a private equity fund. Previously, teachers in Ontario would plan for the next school year in May or June, ordering school supplies for their classes—often through their school board’s own portal that sold supplies at cost and benefitted from extensive economies of scale. The new Staples portal opened with prices that were almost always higher than what Staples was offering in stores, and exponentially higher than those on the school board’s own old portal. Ontario’s Education Minister, Paul Calandra, put this down to “pricing mistakes” and offered teachers (who have already been forced to speed-purchase all their materials in less than four days) a dedicated line that they can call (individually) to “request a price review and match.”
The seemingly last-minute system has resulted in what many could have foreseen: delays in delivery, potentially leaving many students without supplies on day one of classes, or forcing teachers to use their own money to buy essential school supplies for students (including pencils, pens and notebooks).
Private businesses profiting from dollars meant for educators
In Toronto, moving school supplies to a private contract with Staples, rather than through the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) portal. It comes as a direct result of the closure of the TDSB’s Distribution Centre, and the loss of over 300 jobs.
“It is as callous as it is short-sighted,” said one former TDSB distribution site worker. “Given that it disregards the regular livelihoods of long-time TDSB workers, as well as any consideration for the quality of service they provide to the board and its students.”
The worker told Spring that an entire shift of TDSB employees received an email informing them that their position was being closed. “We just showed up for work on a random Wednesday and had emails in our inbox informing us that we were part of the ‘surplus reduction’.”
The Ford government has also released a “Back to Basics” ad campaign that boasts of increases to spending in education. However, it has become clear that no money from Ford will make its way to public services unless it has fallen through the pockets of private businesses first.
This represents a trend of Ford moving taxpayer money directly into private business in the name of education. At the moment, the Ontario government is claiming that lower enrollment across schools in the province justifies the decreases in educational funding. In the same breath, Ford is promising $30 billion to “build, expand, and renew schools across Ontario” and open “more than 18,000 student spaces.”
Why build more educational capacity whilst underfunding and cutting teachers because of “low enrollment”? Ford’s relationship with private developers is no secret and is the core reason for an ongoing RCMP investigation into criminal behaviour by the Premier. It is the same thing again and again—the Greenbelt, Ontario Place, the Science Centre, and school board-owned properties—Doug Ford is selling off provincial assets to private developers, and redirecting funds away from education and our wider public services.
A power shift in school boards unifies our fight
When Ford cut elected school board trustees in favour of non-elected executives, it was under the guise of overhauling school governance and bringing costs down. The provincial government expanded the “Student and Family Support Offices” to all school boards across Ontario. Former NDP MPP Jill Andrew highlighted that the offices are “phone numbers and email addresses with no new staff capacity” and that “parents are not allowed to reach out for help until they’ve spoken to a teacher, principal [or] superintendent”. The Ford government wanted more control over school boards, but without wanting to listen to teachers, parents, or students.
While it is undeniably bad news to have Ford at the helm of billions of dollars of school board properties, and with more power in school boards, what it also means is that now we are all looking to Ford to fix what he has broken. A unified push to support education workers and defeat Ford may not only protect education in Ontario, but also ensure the future for millions of students and hundreds of thousands of education workers.
A win for education workers is a win for us all. Even if you are not a teacher, don’t have children, or don’t live beside a school, what Ford is able to get away with for education workers, he will try for every public sector we have. Show your support for education workers, and fight for all of our public services.
You can find resources to help support Ontario’s education workers here.
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