As a result of Conservative government cuts to public education, there is $1,200 less in funding for every child this year. How has that impacted students in Peel?

  • There is a shortage of education workers in Ontario. The Ford government has admitted to a recruit and retention problem. In Peel, we are facing a similar problem. The root cause is chronic underfunding - schools are understaffed, compromising the high quality of education students deserve, and the level of support educators should be receiving.

    As an example, in the midst of this province-wide crisis, the PDSB terminated 372 special needs educational assistants (EAs) and 115 early childhood educators (ECEs) from the casual pool. Close to 60% of EA and ECE absences are not being filled, there is a dire need to maintain a robust casual pool of education workers.

    Specialized EAs are key to the learning, health and safety of everyone in the classroom. Due to staffing shortages, violence in classrooms is at an all time high.

    In order to find a solution, PDSB utilizes Lunchroom Supervisors to cover staffing shortages. Lunchroom Supervisors are paid significantly less, making it a cost effective strategy, however, they do not have the necessary training to perform all the requirements of an education worker.

    Too often, classes are being covered by unqualified and uncertified adults, or are being merged with other classes, jeopardizing the quality of the learning, and placing a burden on classroom teachers and other school staff. Students deserve to have their classroom always staffed with a qualified and certified educator.

    The Ford government and school boards continuously disregard teachers' expertise, input, and well-being before making cuts to budgets and staffing. Morale is at an all time low. Allowing these conditions to persist harms students and schools.

  • Due to the shortage of education workers in Ontario, PDSB merges, collapses and or cancels programs regularly.

    The programs that are often canceled in schools are: In-school support program educators (ISSP), guidance counselors, teacher-librarians, English as a second language educators (ESL). These are critical supports for students.

    This approach by the PDSB, to address funding cuts, disproportionately impacts Peel’s most marginalized students.

  • In response to funding cuts, PDSB made the decision of eliminating: Communications and Special Program classrooms for students with diverse learning needs. Students enrolled in these programs are placed through a field office Identification Placement and Review Committee (IPRC) meeting. The meeting identifies or confirms the student as exceptional and co-constructs an Individual Education Plan. The class size is significantly smaller than the average and the teacher to student ratio is significantly higher. The choice to integrate students without adequate support is not only unjust, it is a disservice to the child.

    Recently, PDSB eliminated 280+ educators from board wide support roles. These are educators that provide direct support to classroom educators in order to improve their teaching and provide much needed expertise/resources. They also support the integration of students with exceptionalities.

    Integration without proper supports and training leads to instability for children who most benefit from stability. Programs for vulnerable children in our public education system are under attack due to cuts in funding.

  • Cuts in funding is exacerbating violence in schools at an alarming rate. In Ontario, 77% of elementary education workers have personally experienced violence or witnessed violence against another staff person. That number goes up to 86% for educators who work in special education. Students and educators are not to blame, it is the tangible lack of support in classrooms that is leading to violence. No one should have to experience violence at school.

  • Due to budgetary constraints, PDSB made the decision to reduce cleaning measures in classrooms. PDSB classrooms are currently being cleaned every other day.

    Moreover, personal hygiene items such as soap, paper towels and kleenex are no longer provided in classrooms; these items are only located in school washrooms. This is the same for educators and staff.

  • School budgets are being slashed, in order to compensate for a lack of funding - educators spend their own money for basic classroom materials (e.g., paper, pencils, markers, erasers, rulers etc.). Fundraising is not the solution, it simply perpetuates inequities between schools and communities. Schools need funding for basic classroom needs.

What steps do we need to take in order to preserve quality public education in Peel?

  • Students with special needs are not getting the front-line supports and services they need.

    Inadequate supports have a bigger impact on students who face additional barriers, such as Black, Indigenous, and racialized students, students from low socio-economic backgrounds, and those who are English Language Learners.

    Students need access to educational assistants, behavioural counsellors, child and youth workers, psychologists, and speech and language pathologists to help them learn and thrive.

    Schools boards must leverage their influence and publicly call for more funding for students with special needs.

    School boards can survey staff climate, morale and needs.

  • Educators don’t just fight for themselves, they fight for children to be able to access quality public education.

    Changes to PDSB policies, program closures, staff restructuring, reduction in services and classroom budgets, although not required, should be done with more consultation, collaboration and notice both at the school level and at the Board level. Educators have valuable front-line experience that can be shared to problem-solve together.

    Knowledge is power. Sharing information with community members and advocating for more together is important. Community members deserve to know the impacts of funding cuts. Peel community members deserve the right to take action against the impacts of funding cuts.

  • Smaller classes improve student behaviour and peer relationships and increase student engagement in the early grades.

    Investing in smaller classes contributes to alleviating the antisocial, aggressive behaviour that causes incidents of classroom violence.

  • The last time the funding formula was reviewed was 1998. That is a long time ago, and the problems persist: funding for special education programs and supports, funding for English and French as second language programming; funding for basic school-level facilities and services such as libraries, guidance, Music, Art, and Physical Education; funding to support local priorities; and funding for school operations and maintenance.

    There should be an independent, external review of Ontario’s education funding formula that will provide recommendations to update the formula so it reflects actual student needs.