Funding for Ontario schools does not keep up with inflation and boards will struggle to cover all their costs in 2023-24, say trustee associations and unions.
Overall, government education funding is up 2.7 per cent year over year or by $693 million to $27.6 billion.
Though when broken down per pupil, the Ontario Public School Boards鈥 Association says the increase is $66 鈥 from $13,059 to $13,125 鈥 or half one of per cent.
鈥淛ust like for families and businesses, all costs in school board budgets are going up due to inflation,鈥 said Cathy Abraham, association president and a trustee with the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 see a corresponding increase in funding, there will be an impact on students.鈥
She said discussions continue with the government 鈥渢o ensure that our schools have the necessary resources and supports that our students need to succeed.鈥
Education Minister Stephen Lecce said in the legislature this week that over the past four years, the government has boosted education spending by 10 per cent, and noted his Sunday announcement of more than $180 million for 1,000 additional teachers to support math and literacy learning in schools.
Overall, Lecce added, 鈥渨e are increasing the hiring by 2,000 more front-line staff. We are refocusing education on what matters most: Back to the basics. Back to ensuring young people have the fluency in the skills that will help set them up for long-term success.鈥
COVID funding gone
At Queen鈥檚 Park Thursday morning, Karen Littlewood, the president of the 60,000-member Ontario Secondary School Teachers鈥 Federation said the Ford government 鈥渋s not investing in public education鈥 and that the 2.7 per cent increase is 鈥渁rtificially high鈥 given $300 million in temporary COVID funding was removed from last year鈥檚 budget numbers for comparison.
The Elementary Teachers鈥 Federation of Ontario said the 鈥渇iscal crunch is coming at a time when most school boards have limited to no funding reserves, after being forced to spend them during the pandemic to make up for the lack of provincial supports.鈥
Boards across the province were already looking at cuts for the 2023-24 school year, though budgets have not yet been finalized.
鈥淭he education funding that was announced (Monday) doesn鈥檛 even remotely keep pace with inflation, let alone address the three years of learning disruption that have been impacting our kids so deeply,鈥 said NDP Leader Marit Stiles.
鈥淪o if they鈥檙e not investing in our students and their future, what are they doing? They鈥檙e micromanaging school boards. They鈥檙e labelling community schools as real estate assets, and they鈥檙e introducing new fees. That鈥檚 what they鈥檙e doing,鈥 she added, referring to wide-ranging new legislation introduced by Lecce on Monday that would see the province take on new powers over school boards.
Barb Dobrowolski, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers鈥 Association, said recent announcements for math and literacy supports for kids aren鈥檛 enough and that the government is 鈥渁gain refusing to properly invest in Ontario鈥檚 publicly funded education system 鈥 the one thing that would make the biggest impact to best support our students.鈥
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