$750 is No Substitute for Properly Funded Schools
“$750 does not make up for $6.3 billion in chronic government underfunding of our schools over the past eight years. While we have advocated for supports, once again, teachers are being asked to show up for students and in the face of gaps left by the government’s refusal to properly support publicly funded education in Ontario.
Teachers should never have to pay out of pocket to make sure that their students have the basic supplies they need to thrive and succeed, so any measure that acknowledges this reality also acknowledges that Ontario classrooms are severely underfunded.
Let’s be clear: this is not a real solution. It is another band-aid response and distraction from the real issues affecting our school communities.
For years, Catholic teachers have been calling attention to the consequences of chronic underfunding in our schools: larger class sizes, worsening staff shortages, rising violence in schools, growing repair backlogs, and fewer supports for students. A $750 purchasing card may help buy some materials, but it only works out to approximately $0.67 per student per day and it does nothing to address the larger financial pressures facing our schools.
Ontario’s students need a government that is prepared to make sustained, meaningful investments in our publicly funded education system, including ensuring smaller class sizes, safe and modern schools, and better mental health supports.
Catholic teachers want their students to have everything they need to succeed. This announcement does little to address the critical and fundamental problems facing our students and teachers, which the government fails to acknowledge. Ontario families deserve a serious plan to fix the long-standing funding problems this government has failed to acknowledge or address. They need a government willing to tackle the root causes of underfunding and invest in the future of publicly funded education.”
René Jansen in de Wal
President, Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association