Matthew Zaffino
October 26, 2026 — Elect

Matthew Zaffino

Etobicoke Centre & Lakeshore
Curious.  Honest.  Local.

My name is Matthew Zaffino (Matt works too!) and I want to serve as your TDSB Ward 2 Trustee. The TDSB is part of my past and my future: I grew up attending 4 different TDSB schools and will be sending my own children to TDSB schools, so I am both familiar and invested in what this board can do.

My goal as a Trustee is to help create strong educational opportunities for this generation and the next. My motivations are personal and patriotic. I get genuinely excited when anyone, but in particular young people, are doing great things and living up to their potential. We also live in a rapidly changing world, and for Toronto, Ontario and Canada to continue to improve their standing, it is imperative that each generation of young people is more capable than the last.

Unfortunately, Ontario test scores have now been on a multi-decade decline, and we have tumbled down global rankings — and I believe we all need to do our part to see this reversed. Schools need to be adequately funded, and all of us — students, educators, parents, and others — need to reestablish high standards based on proven educational principles.

Let's get to work!


What I Stand For

01
Think First,
Tech Second
  • We are rapidly moving into the AI era, but there is a growing body of research linking excess screen time and technology usage to bad outcomes for kids.
  • I want to prioritize a "back to basics" approach, where students receive a broad knowledge base and develop strong critical thinking skills; time-tested techniques like phonics and rote memorization were common when Ontario had some of the highest test scores in the world.
  • I want students to be "masters of AI" rather than at AI's mercy. They need to be intellectually strong enough to evaluate AI outputs with sufficient authority.
02
High Performance
Education Culture
  • Teachers should have the autonomy to run classrooms as they see fit: if they want more participation grades, or to dock kids for late assignments, they should have that freedom.
  • Teachers should also have the support they need to invest in every student; that means sane class sizes, and ensuring that complex care situations are also adequately resourced so that teachers can actually teach.
  • I also believe that teachers need to be held accountable; if they are adequately supported, but students in their classes still struggle for years on end, something needs to change.
03
School Lands
Stay Public
  • I vehemently oppose any sale of school lands. If schools are under enrolled, the properties should remain in the public domain, preferably as parks and playgrounds.
  • Play is critical for childhood development, and spaces for outdoor play are limited for kids, and it's getting worse — with Toronto's zoning changes over the last few years, green space in many new developments has been significantly reduced.
  • The TDSB uses a 10-year planning horizon for school land decisions — I strongly believe this should be longer. Toronto is expected to continue to grow; selling off land and reacquiring it at a much higher cost a decade later does not make sense.
04
Long Term
Investment Mindset
  • The borrowing rate for the City of Toronto and the Province of Ontario is approximately 4%. If the time-adjusted societal net benefit of an initiative exceeds a 4% annual return, we should strongly consider it — and if it doesn't, we need a very good reason to proceed.
  • First, this means not overinvesting in consumption-style purchases that do not provide an adequate societal return.
  • Second, it means not underinvesting: initiatives like early intervention applied behaviour analysis therapy for students on the autism spectrum result in significant outcome improvements, enable greater student engagement, and provide a financial return through lower staffing requirements in later years.
05
Pro Dialogue — Best Ideas Win
  • I firmly believe in an open dialogue. I want to hear your thoughts and concerns, and I want the best ideas to move forward.
  • When the best ideas win, our students are given the best possible chance to succeed, whether that's repairing a critical piece of school infrastructure, or updating a teaching method.
  • When the best ideas win, our test scores will recover, educators will be empowered, taxpayers will be respected, and our city, province and country will be stronger in the future.

About Matthew

Attended 4 Etobicoke TDSB schools: Lambton-Kingsway JMS, Broadacres Junior, John G. Althouse Middle, and Martingrove Collegiate Institute
Etobicoke resident for over 20 years; Toronto resident for over 30 years
Father of 2 — his eldest starts kindergarten next fall
Bachelor of Commerce and Graduate Diploma in Accounting, Queen's University
CPA, CA — over 7 years as a Controller / Director of Finance
Experience across audit, automotive, manufacturing, consumer packaged goods, project management, small business financing, and tech sales
Former Director, Hand Up From Hunger Toronto (charity)
Co-Founder, BOGOShield Social Enterprise (face shields during COVID-19)
Co-Lead Volunteer, Vine Presbyterian Church Audio Team
Mentor to university students

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