A Toronto parent group is demanding the province shut down a website that it says encourages parents to choose public schools based on student demographics.

The Ontario Ministry of Education's school information finder website profiles more than 5,000 public schools in the province and tells parents which ones have larger class sizes, high numbers of children from low-income households and more students who speak English as a second language.

It also tells parents what percentage of a school's students are identified as gifted in comparison with the provincial average, as well as the percentage of students meeting the provincial standards in math and literacy testing.

The parent group People for Education has posted an open letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty and Education Minister Kathleen Wynne asking them to reconsider the website, arguing that the site will hurt public education.

The group plans to voice their "grave concern" with the website in a meeting with the premier and Wynne on Monday, spokeswoman Annie Kidder told CBC News.

Kidder said about 200 parents have signed the group's online petition, which accuses the government of setting up a "school bag" website similar to online shopping sites and pushing the province toward a ranking system based solely on tests and socio-economic factors.

"What has happened in other places is that it ends up dividing student populations even more than they are already divided," Kidder said.

The Education Ministry says the website just makes it easier to find demographic information that is already available to parents.