Friends, the Ontario and federal budgets have come out and it’s not good. There does not appear to be any help for education, the TDSB or our kids.
The school board budget discussion taking place at the TDSB and at other boards across the province are very difficult right now. The TDSB used its reserves during the height of the pandemic and now faces a budget shortfall with no reserves to backstop it. School boards need to pass balanced budgets and rely on the province for funding. You can find more information on this here Developing the 2023-2024 Budget (tdsb.on.ca)
The Ontario budget did not include funding to reimburse pandemic costs for school boards.
But what’s more, the province has not yet released how much funding it will be giving school boards - known as Grants for Student Needs or GSNs - even though they know how dire the financial situation is. This is creating chaos and stress and is why schools are hearing about staffing cuts coming. The province knows this is the situation, and it is completely unnecessary and cruel.
There are proposed cuts to Vice Principals and other staff across Toronto-Danforth and all over the TDSB. I am deeply concerned around these proposed staffing cuts. None of these cuts are acceptable.
I am committed to fighting to keep these much-needed positions in our schools. Within the TDSB, the board has asked staff to bring a proposal for adding back school staff (including Vice Principals) once we have more information around provincial funding through the GSNs.
But without provincial funding the TDSB is facing an impossible situation. I feel we all need to be demanding the province prevent further cuts to our schools by providing the much-needed funding that has been requested by the TDSB.
What you can do:
- An East End Rally for Public Education is being organized for Saturday April 15 from 11am-1pm at the Coxwell Parkettte (SW side Coxwell and Danforth) Please come and bring the whole family! You can make signs before or we’ll have markers and old cardboard there for you to make your own. More information is available at East End Rally for Public Education (facebook)
- Please tell your family and friends - Please bring this up over your long weekend dinners with family members across the province and encourage them to contact their MPPs. we need the government to hear from more than just our community on this one!
- Join the upcoming Education Town Hall – I will be joining our local MPP Peter Tabuns for an online Education Town Hall on April 13 at 7:30 PM. For more information and to register, visit Public Education Town Hall Webinar Registration (Zoom)
- Writing to the province - I know many of you already have written the provincial government around education funding, and for that I thank you. We need to keep at it!! You can find the letter that TDSB Director and Board Chair sent to the Education Minister Stephen.Lecce@pc.ola.org around funding needs here: News: Reimbursement of Pandemic Costs | Toronto District School Board (tdsb.on.ca)
- Please follow me at @trusteesara on social media if you would like to keep up to date, I expect there will be more actions in the weeks to come.
Thank you for taking action on this, and take care,
- Sara Ehrhardt