There is a crisis in public education in Ontario.
Classrooms are frequently evacuated because of violent episodes, completely disrupting the learning environment for students. Educational assistants are overburdened with work and students are not provided the supports they need. Libraries are closing for days at a time because school boards do not have the funds to keep libraries open. Our schools are not being cleaned properly because there are nowhere near enough custodians to keep up with the mounting workload. Too many kindergarten students are denied the support of a designated early childhood educator in their classroom.
And it’s Ontario’s students who are suffering the most. They are being failed by a system that does not support them because of a chronic understaffing crisis created by consistent underfunding by the provincial government.
Today, the Ontario School Board of Unions, OSBCU, is calling on the Ford government to immediately address the ongoing funding crisis in public education and:
- Commit to increase real per-pupil funding (including the restoration of all funding cuts due to inflation and enrolment growth) to improve student and staff supports;
- Commit to increase staffing in all education worker classifications to meet all student needs (including educational assistant support for all students who need it, designated early childhood educators in every classroom with kindergarten students, adequately staffed school offices and libraries, and clean and well-maintained buildings);
- A meaningful plan to address the violence epidemic in schools;
- A plan to make schools accessible and inclusive for all students.
The school board sector has been defunded by over $2.3 billion in the 2024-25 school year alone, due to spending not keeping pace with inflation and enrolment growth. This number grows to $10.66 billion since the Ford government formed government, and $14.44 billion since 2012-2013. It is clear that Ontario has the resources to fund schools sufficiently to meet student needs and restore the world class education system in Ontario students and parents deserve.
Public education in Ontario is at a breaking point. We can no longer allow our students and staff to deal with these conditions. We need an immediate surge in funding, we need properly staffed schools, and we need it now.
Our students deserve better, our parents and communities deserve better, and education workers deserve better.