On April 26, the Ford government quietly released information on its new funding model for public schools for 2024-2025. The new model is said to “better reflect the purpose of funding and be more understandable for parents” and increased the core education fund for 2024-2025 by $745 million, bringing the total to $28.6 billion. As is the case with this government, this flashy announcement hides the fact that this budget still falls below the rate of inflation and enrolment growth.
Through the new model, school funding will be delivered through six different funds: classroom staffing, learning resources, special education, school facilities, student transport and school administration. In addition to these six areas, there will be funds for “responsive education programs” and capital building and maintenance with outside partners.
The government is emphasizing the transparency of the funding, which is detailed on their website and available twice a year, as well as the $70 million in math funding, $95 million to improve student literacy and $117 million increase for the special education fund.
Since 2018, education funding is down $1,357 per student, a total of $2.7 billion overall, when accounting for inflation. The government’s newest announcement is an increase of 1.9%, well below the budget’s 2024 predicted inflation rate of 2.6%. In a stark example of the government’s willful ignorance of the crisis in education, the announcement does not even mention the teacher shortage that has been rocking the province and robbing teachers of vital special education, English language, math, and literacy supports.
The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) responded to the announcement quickly, characterizing the government’s failure to keep pace with inflation as a “deliberate cut to public education.”
The statement from ETFO states: “Despite Education Minister Stephen Lecce’s boastful claims of ‘historic’ investments in public education, school boards find themselves yet again grappling with hollow statements. Instead of the vital funds required to adequately support students, they are left having to decide which essential student supports they will stop providing […]. On April 10, the Finance Accountability Office released a report comparing revenue and program spending in Ontario to other provinces. From this independent analysis of data, it is clear the province has a revenue problem. Ontario raises less revenue per-capita and spends less on public services per-capita than any other province. Yet, the Ford government continues to focus on providing corporate tax cuts instead of making much-needed investments in education, health care, and other public services on which Ontarians rely.”
MPP Chandra Pasma, Official Opposition NDP Critic for Education, criticized Doug Ford’s Conservatives’ education funding announcement, stating: “For six straight years, education funding has failed to keep pace with inflation under this Conservative government’s watch. This chronic underfunding, to the tune of $2.7 billion, has left our education system facing significant challenges: larger class sizes, teacher and education worker shortages, and a worsening crisis in mental health and violence.”
Doug Ford’s government has continued to ignore the causes of the crisis in education and seems to now be looking to distract with announcements about the dangers of vaping and cell phones to students. But the biggest dangers in school come from underfunding, understaffing and the students who need real support falling through the cracks that have been widened by this government. Ontario schools need more educational assistants, smaller class sizes and more teachers to truly address the problems in Ontario schools. Cell phone bans and vape-detecting security technology are just a distraction.
Author
Did you like this article? Help us produce more like it by donating $1, $2, or $5. Donate