TDSB warns Ford government against ‘reckless’ budget cuts that could harm kids

“We need adequate, stable and predictable ministry funding to provide the necessary programs and services for our students’ academic success and well-being so that they may emerge from the pandemic ready for whatever comes their way,” said board Chair Rachel Chernos Lin and Director of Education Colleen Russell-Rawlins in a letter to Education Minister Stephen Lecce.

Throughout the pandemic, they added, the board did “everything possible to ensure the health and safety” of students and staff, which has left it in a financially difficult spot.

The TDSB, which is the country’s largest with about 235,000 students in 583 schools, faces a $61 million deficit for its 2023-24 budget. After the provincial budget is tabled on Thursday, the ministry will give boards specifics about funding, which is tied to student enrolment — at a time when enrolment at the TDSB is declining.

The board is requesting that $70.1 million in pandemic costs be reimbursed, $31.5 million in pandemic funding be continued and that $48.6 million be added to cover the projected shortfall in employee benefits and sick leave costs for next year.

The TDSB used $70.1 million of its reserves to put in place COVID-19-related safety measures that were directed by the government, and advised by local health officials, such as reducing class sizes, implementing additional cleaning measures and buying personal protective equipment. It’s now asking the province to reimburse it, noting Ontario committed to funding one-third of the city’s 2022 pandemic-related operating budget shortfall of $700 million.

It notes that the impacts of the pandemic aren’t over and that it is “very concerned” with the COVID-19 Learning Recovery Fund expiring in August, referring to the time-limited funds the ministry gave boards for temporary staffing supports. The TDSB received $31.5 million in each of the past two years and created an extra 485 school-based positions, including hall monitors, teachers, child and youth workers, and social workers. With funding expiring, those positions are at risk.

However, in a February 2022 memo, the province told boards the $304 million in total funding was for “time limited” and temporary extra staffing such as teachers, early childhood educators and educational assistants to help with pandemic learning losses or for custodians to continue the extra level of cleaning.

Both Premier Ford and Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said this week that the province will be spending more on areas like health and education in Thursday’s budget.

“Ontario’s government continues to fund education at the highest levels in our province’s history, including for the hiring of 7,000 additional education workers to support students,” Grace Lee, a spokesperson for Lecce, said in a statement to the Star.

“We provided $3 billion to the TDSB this year alone, and look forward to increased investments where students need it the most, focused on reading and math skills.”

But for the TDSB, “we are worried about the ramifications to student well-being,” wrote Chernos Lin and Russell-Rawlins. “Given the rise in violent incidents involving youth in Toronto, the reduction of adults in our building and correlating loss of support to our students is a major cause for concern and may compromise school safety. With the effects of the pandemic, cuts to funding seem reckless and harmful to students, now more than ever.”

The board is also asking the province to pay “the actual costs of employee benefits and sick leave for all Ontario school boards,” noting that for 2023-24, TDSB employee benefits and sick leave costs are projected to be underfunded by $48.6 million.

Trustee Shelley Laskin of Ward 8 (Eglinton-Lawrence/Toronto-St. Paul’s) introduced the motion at a recent board meeting, which prompted the letter.

“Funding for school boards in Toronto, and across the province, has never met the full needs of students,” Laskin told the Star this week. “Transition funding should not disappear. We’re not through the pandemic.”

The TDSB has an annual operating budget of about $3.4 billion, 65 per cent of which is spent on school-based staffing costs.

Isabel Teotonio is a Toronto-based reporter covering education for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @Izzy74