The Toronto District School Board is expected to balance its budget without cutting staff or closing schools in a surprise move aimed at avoiding provincial intervention.

Faced with a deficit of $84.5 million, school board trustees will vote on a proposal Wednesday that would see at least $40 million transferred from the capital budget to the operating budget.

The rest of the money needed to eliminate the shortfall would come from cuts to administrative programs, professional development and increased revenue from parking.

"Based on what people have said to me I hope that it will pass tomorrow, but we won't know until the vote's taken," said school board chair Sheila Ward.

Ward said parents told her they understand budgets have to be balanced, but they want the school board to do it instead of handing power over to the province.

If trustees approve the proposal, the board would avoid intervention by a province-appointed supervisor.

By law, school boards are required to pass a balanced budget and a supervisor can be sent in if the board refuses to comply.

The Liberal government recently appointed a supervisor to cut $16.5 million to balance the $670 million budget of the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board after trustees voted to defy the government's order.

The proposal before the Toronto public board would include cuts of $1.5 million to professional development programs, and $8.7 million from board administration costs, such as travel and meeting expenses.

Earlier proposals suggested closing schools with low enrolment, cutting support staff and slashing continuing education.

Critics of school board budget cuts have called for the trustees to make a political statement by refusing to balance their budget.

"It's a catch-22 for the trustees," said Chris Glover of the Campaign for Public Education, a group opposed to budget cuts. "If there are cuts to be made, let the Liberals make it and then they can pay for it at the polls."

Glover suggests it may have the same effect as in 2002, when the Conservative government took over the budgets of three school boards, including the Toronto public board.

When the province voted the next year, the Tories were swept away in Toronto, and took heavy losses in the GTA as the Liberals were elected with a huge majority.