Residents rally for public education

‘Province’ from Page 5

The 2023 budget displays signs of progress as it stated Ontario was set to increase education funding from by $2.3 billion.

However, many have described this as a form of a budget cut. According to the latest Financial Accountability Office (FAO) report, this funding has previously been designated for the joint federal-provincial child care program and will not be used to fund primary and secondary schools. The FAO reported that the Ministry of Education plans to spend $1.5 billion in 2022-23 and $2.3 billion in 2023-24 under the federal-provincial child care program.

“This includes $1.1 billion in 2022-23 and $1.6 billion in 2023-24 to reduce child care fees,” stated FAO’s report. “The remaining planned spending in 2022-23 and 202324 of $353 million and $694 million, respectively, is for wage enhancements, professional development, growth in spaces, start-up grants and administrative costs.”

This hasn’t gone unnoticed by community members such as East End Parents 4 Public Education (EEP4PE), a group of parents and community members advocating for better public education and adequate funding.

The group held a rally against the cuts on April 15, at 11 a.m. at the Coxwell Avenue Parkette.

The rally aimed to convince Queen’s Park that the TDSB needs more help to ensure students get the proper education they need.

The call by East End Parents 4 Public Education comes as the TDSB is expected to lose out on an additional $31 million as the Ministry of Education has opted not to renew the COVID-19 funding once it expires in August. This, TDSB warns, will lead to additional cuts.

According to Beaches-East York Trustee TDSB Michelle Aarts, the Ministry of Education required school boards to use their reserves to cover operating costs.

This means that although schools will have base level staffing, they still expect to lose almost 500 staff members in Toronto alone, most of which are from the human resources sector of the education system.

Although the pandemic is now being considered a thing of the past by the government, Kate Dupuis, parent of two east Toronto public school students and Chair of EEP4PE (who also ran as the NDP candidate in Beaches-East York in the June 2022 provincial election) believes that Ontario’s budget is neglecting the after effects of the past two years and importance of human resources in a post-pandemic system.

“The truth of the matter is that the system is really stressed and so many kids, we’re seeing, are in need of more support since the pandemic,” said Dupuis.

“So, its really concerning to hear about cuts as a parent because people are already doing the most they can with not a lot of resources.”