Memo sent to school boards from Ministry of Education warns of impending cutbacks to education in Ontario

BY PAUL JUNOR

It certainly came as a surprise to school boards in Ontario when they received a memo from the Ministry of Education dated February 26^th, 2021 that informed them of a potential layoff of thousands of education workers.

The memo was sent by Deputy Education Minister, Nancy Naylor and titled,”2021- 22 School Year.” The memo revealed that the $1.6 billion that was spent during 2020- 2021 will not be available for school boards in the coming school year. It notes:

1.The ministry expects that provincial enrolment will continue to be lower than previously planned and school boards should revise their enrolment projections to reflect 2020 -21 term. The enrolment decline this year was unexpected which is why the enrolment funding was introduced. GSN funding will be based on the count

dates next year as per standard practice.

2. Given the staffing deadlines that school boards will be facing shortly, staffing assumptions should be based on the COVID-19 funding supports being one-time in nature while we continue to monitor and work with health experts to assess what supports are needed to review the valuable feedback in our GSN consultation.

3. For staffing purposes, fully remote classes offered through hybrid models should apply to in-person class size requirements virtual schools continue to be assessed provincially and additional direction is expected in the future.

This news has prompted a wide range of responses. Harvey Bischof, President of OSSTF told PressProgress on March 4^th, 2021 “Coming  out of this pandemic period, we’re going to have students whose needs are greater and who need more support. The idea that, coming out of these lockdowns, they’re going to have fewer staff in schools rather than more, lies in the face of what’s needed to do our best for kids who are suffering during this pandemic.”

Liz Stuart, President of OECTA tweeted, ”Even for @Fordnation and @sfleect culture, $ 1.6 billion to #onted, by secret memo, when we are still grappling with the COVID-19 is a new low. We will all suffer from this govt’s callous disregard for public services.”

Marit Stiles, NDP Education critic Tweeted, “Such a callous decision at a time when our children and youth need support more than ever, Ford puts education funding on the chopping block, in onsite mental health workers, more ED assistants and so much more #onted # onpol.”

On Friday, March 12^th OSSTF Toronto released a statement calling on its members and supporters to “TAKE ACTION NOW” against cuts to public education. The letter states that “The money the government invested into keeping schools open amounts to only a portion of what they cut in the two years previous to 2020-2021.

Nonetheless, it is money that should be maintained into the coming school year if for no other reason than to ensure that student needs, as we deal with the fallout of COVID, can be ably met.”

The letters note that that there has been no money put aside to ensure there is a smooth transition to academic programming as destreaming is implemented in school boards across Ontario, with the expectations that there will be smaller class sizes. The letter is intended to initiate a public campaign directed at MPP to bring awareness of this issue.

The letter states, “The Doug Ford/Stephen Leece Tories need to know that their attempts to over-work us into complacency and silence have failed. It is time to take action against this government and for us to let the public know that we are still ready to fight to protect our students and our schools.” 

 Many are concerned that this memo may signal difficult days ahead in Ontario public education. It shows that the government is still determined to push ahead with its austerity programs as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes.