Update re Ward Forums - Next one April 1st in the Morning!

• 2019-20 Budget - Public Discussion Guide
• 2019-20 Budget - Community Survey
• 2019-20 Budget - Ward Forum Presentation
• Meeting Notes

Update re Autism Funding

• Students, for whom the Board would normally receive partial or no funding at this time of year, will receive the full Grant for Student Need (GSN) funding ($12,300). The Ministry is not providing additional funding for students who are currently registered and transitioning from part-time to full time status as a result of this announcement. This is a one-time funding for students registering this spring and does not represent any further or additional funding into the 2019/20 academic year.  
• There is no additional funding allocation for ASD students to further support transitions for students already registered or into the 2019/20 academic year.
• We will continue to partner with the Geneva Centre to provide PD opportunities. In the TDSB, we provide PD to support ABA and behavioural strategies for central, school staff, and leaders through workshops as well as in schools as central staff work collaboratively with staff locally. Financial support for teachers to take Additional Qualification Courses (AQ) focused on Autism is welcome and is indeed new money. Such PD is teacher-initiated, rather than offered through TDSB professional development.
• Special education funding is projected to be $3.01 billion in 2018-19, which will continue in 2019-20. This information references existing funding such as Special Equipment Amount (SEA), Special Incidence Portion (SIP) as part of special education funding and do not represent new or additional money for school boards. The TDSB already spends close to $39M over its allocation.
• TDSB has completed two After-School pilot programs in this 2018/19 academic year for students with Autism focusing on social skills and self-regulation strategies. Additional funding to support this program will allow TDSB to explore expanding this program to more locations throughout the TDSB.
• The Connections for Students model is a transition program that connects TDSB staff from the Autism team with clinical staff and families to discuss how to best support a successful transition. While no additional funding has been announced to support, this process will continue. Each student registration and transition will be considered on a case-by-case basis to support individual student needs for the transition and beyond.

TDSB Summary of March 15, 2019 Announcement by Ontario’s Minister of Education

• Modernization - we agree that modernization of our school system is very important and now, more than ever, is needed to improve the condition of our schools. Province-wide, we face a $15 billion dollar school repair backlog including a $3.9 billion repair backlog facing TDSB schools. One of the government’s budget priorities needs to be investing in school repairs and school modernization as well maintained learning environments can contribute to better learning outcomes for students.
• Hiring Practices - Ontario Regulation 274/12, under the Education Act, establishes mandatory processes that prioritize seniority, rather than specific skills or previous performance, as the most important criteria in hiring. OPSBA has advocated for its repeal and I am glad it will finally be dealt with.
  
• Class Size - Kindergarten - no changes to the class size caps. Primary (grades 1 to 3) - no proposed changes to either the caps or the average class size requirements. Intermediate (grades 4 to 8) - all school boards would be required to maintain a boardwide average class size of 24.5 or less, while the funded average class size would be minimally increased from 23.84 to 24.5. It means larger class sizes for intermediate grades. But we are especially concerned about the substantial jump in high school class averages that will be phased in over 4 years. And we know that students, parents, teachers and principals share this concern. This school year we based secondary staffing on a system wide average class size of 21.7. If we were to have implemented the Ministry average class size of 22.0, a reduction of approximately 50.0 FTE classroom teachers would have been required. While we have to learn more details, the change to a Ministry average class size of 28 is significant and will negatively impact student learning, not only in larger classes, but we expect this will impact course offerings at some high schools. And the new requirements that high school students take a minimum of four e-learning credits out of the 30 credits needed to fulfill the requirements for achieving an Ontario Secondary School Diploma will also have an impact on both students and a further reduction of high school teachers. E-learning does not work for all, does not consider equitable access to technology and I find this particularly problematic.
• Health and Physical Education Curriculum - Thankfully the government confirmed that  topics such as consent, online safety and gender identity will continue to be part of the curriculum. But all students must feel safe and welcomed... concerned about the younger students who do not identify as male or female or have family that don't... they need to see themselves reflected in curriculum...schools must be inclusive, safe and caring for all students. We have always felt you cannot "opt out" of human rights education and we will need more details on how the opt out will work and for what parts of the curriculum will it apply. 
• Curriculum - The emphasis on Math and STEM and Skilled Trades is welcomed, especially if funding is associated. However, there is a real concern on how student learning will be improved with fewer teachers in schools. The cellphone ban is not a ban - the TDSB's current policy fits "It is important to make sure that they are used responsibly, do not interfere with learning and respect the rights of others at all times." 
• EQAO - I have long been a vocal supporter of changes to EQAO and it is my hope that the government implements all the recommendations from the Independent Review of Assessment and Reporting Ontario: A Learning Province.It is too early to know what the province means by "modernize the agency and its processes, while using data to build better assessment and evaluation models that have a greater focus on equity."
  

TDSB Committees This Week

Policy Consultations

New Invitations

Worth Repeating - School Council PD

• Tuesday, March 26, 2019, 7:00 p.m.: School Council Bylaws To be an effective School Council, you need a firm foundation. This webinar will take participants through the writing School Council Bylaws.
• Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 7:00 p.m.: School Council Effectiveness This webinar examines how communication, committees and volunteers will connect with your community and will ease your workload.

Worth Repeating - Parents as Partners 2019

School Year Calendar 2018-2019

• Gr. 9 Math:  2nd Semester: June 5-18, 2019
• OSSLT:  March 27, 2019
• Primary/Junior EQAO: May 21-June 3, 2019