Provincial Government’s revised funding model has led to underfunding of schools

BY PAUL JUNOR

The recent announcement of a new funding model by Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education and Training, that will go into effect for the school year starting in September 2024 has prompted a response from the Ontario School Boards Council of Unions (OSBCU).

This union represents approximately 55,000 members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) who are found in both elementary and secondary schools across Ontario. This union consists of workers from a broad range of varied educational workers from: catholic, public and French schools.

There have been concerns expressed by several teachers’ unions over the years since the conservative government was elected in 2018 regarding changes to the pupil funding model.

OSBCU released a statement on Thursday May 2^nd, 2024, expressing its concerns about changes to the funding model. The statement notes, “On Friday afternoon, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced the amount of funding that the provincial government will provide to school boards for the upcoming school year as well as new ways this funding information is being presented, which the minister is calling a new funding model. The Ford government’s new funding model is not fundamentally different from the old one.”

The press release indicated details about some of the percent changes that are projected. It notes, “Per pupil funding will be increasing by only 1.86% in 2024 – 25, below what the government itself is projecting inflation will be. In the 2024 provincial budget presented just a few months ago, the government was saying inflation will be 2.6% in 2024, and 2% in 2025.” These are below the 2.9% that has actually been measured from the period of March 2023 to March 2024.

The press release mentioned vital statistics from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). It notes, “The difference between real increase in costs and what the provincial government is going to provide to school boards next year is a loss of about $300 million for schools, or roughly $141 per student.”

One of the seemingly insignificant changes that the Ministry of Education has made involves relabeling 18 provincial grants into six “funding pillars.” This has made it more challenging to keep track of how the Ministry allocates funding per student. There is confusion that results from the way that the Ministry of Education has changed the funding model. In the past it was easy for education stakeholders such as: teachers’ unions, educators, parents and trustees to keep track of how much was spent on students. Now there are concerns that this revised funding model has led to underfunding of schools, and this has impacted the number of teachers hired in the public-school system.

The press release concludes, “Clearly Minister Lecce and Premier Doug Ford know they’re shortchanging students and parents again come this September. What’s been announced doesn’t do anything to meet the current shortfalls in school staffing, and it sadly doesn’t invest in more frontline staffing that would improve the lives of students and parents. The frustrating thing is this provincial government has the resources to do so much better than these cuts, but it chooses not to.”