Two Ontario School Boards Spend $2M Each on Equity-Focused Staff Salaries

Students leave a school in London, Ont., on March 13, 2020. Geoff Robins/AFP via Getty Images

Ontario school boards are hiring a growing number of staff dedicated to equity, diversity, and inclusion, and many of them are making six-digit salaries, with two school boards spending over $2 million each annually.

The Epoch Times looked at publicly disclosed salaries above $100,000 on the Ontario government’s website. The latest data available was for 2021.

Province-wide, boards employed about 50 equity staff earning six-digits in 2021. By comparison, only 13 staff in all boards are listed for 2018, and only two for 2015.

Durham District School Board (DDSB) and Peel District School Board (PDSB) were the two with the largest number of high-earning equity staff.

Durham District

DDSB serves about 72,000 students in the cities of Ajax, Whitby, Pickering, and Oshawa, as well as some rural areas, including Uxbridge.

As of 2021, it employed at least 15 equity staff making six-digit salaries, with the highest being Associate Director of Equitable Education Jimmy Markovski, who earns about $240,000 annually. It has several superintendents of equitable education, who make about $194,000 each.

The board spent a total of $2.5 million on equity staff salaries in 2021.

Markovski was hired in 2021 when the board replaced the position of “associate director, academic services” with the position of “associate director, equitable education.”

DDSB said in a press release at the time that this move was to “reflect the DDSB’s commitment to place equity at the heart of decision making.” Markovski was selected because of his lived experience as an immigrant student and his commitment to “combatting racism.”

In the presentation of DDSB’s 2022–2023 budget of about $1 billion, Chair Carolyn Morton lists five budget priorities, two of which mention equity directly. The second on the list is “budget decisions that will support student and staff equity and human rights.”

Peel District

PDSB serves about 153,000 students immediately to the west of Toronto.

As of 2021, it employed at least 13 equity-focused staff making more than $100,000 annually. Three of them earn more than $200,000, with the highest salary received by Associate Director Instruction and Equity Support Services Poleen Grewal.

The board spent a total of $2.1 million on equity staff salaries in 2021.

Grewal has been in the position for some years, and she made headlines in 2018 when she issued a memo saying the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” should be taught through an “anti-oppression lens.” She said it should be taught to explore how racism is portrayed by a white author, leaving out the perspective of those who have experienced racism themselves.

Grewal took the school board to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario in 2019, accusing them of racism. The complaint prompted Education Minister Stephen Lecce to launch an examination of the board’s practices. The ministry’s oversight only came to an end in January this year.

Peel’s budget for the 2021–2022 school-year included a priority to implement ministerial directives and achieve “equity and anti-oppression.” The total budget was $1.9 billion. It included $4.8 million for “indigenous education, anti-racism, anti-oppression, and community partnership support.”

The Epoch Times reached out to PDSB and DDSB for comment but did not receive a reply as of publication.

Other Ontario Boards

The Epoch Times found a combined total of at least 20 equity-focused staff earning six-digits at other boards in Ontario. They earn a combined total of $2.5 million income annually.

These counts of equity staff may not be comprehensive, as these positions have various titles and it is difficult to ensure a comprehensive search. Some job titles include the words “equity” or “equitable.” Some are “coordinators of anti-racism,” or “directors of well-being and inclusion” or “human rights specialists.”

The provincial government publishes the names, positions, and salaries of all employees earning more than $100,000. That includes employees at Crown agencies, hospitals, universities, and more. In 2021, the number of such employees with the word “equity” in their titles was about 140. In 2018, it was 64 and in 2015 it was 43.