Ontario parents and education workers outraged at the Ford Government’s school reopening plan that adds only 7 cents per student per day to confront the largest public health and education crisis of our time.

In late June, Ontario families waited for the promised announcement from the Ford Government’s Education Minister, Stephen Lecce, that would outline a September return-to-school plan designed to do what is best for our kids. Instead, parents were given a plan that fails to address the realities that Ontario families are experiencing.

Minister Lecce’s framework is so limiting that parents across Ontario see a looming crisis in September due to the combination of income supports ending and schooling models that will keep kids home part-time. In his June announcement, Minister Lecce announced $736 million in “new” funding. This funding is not new but rather a partial restoration of some of what was cut by this government in March of 2019 when they imposed class size increases and funding cuts.

The Minister is adding a drop in the bucket for mental health, caretaking, and transportation support - an amount that works out to approximately $0.07 per kid per day - and that’s it.

“An additional 7 cents per student per day to confront the largest public health and education crisis of our time amounts to Lecce abandoning our kids,” says Rachel Huot, of the Ontario Parent Action Network. “Because the Boards have no real new money, they are forced to plan within an austerity framework that will lead to inferior learning and very unsafe conditions for children and staff.

Minister Lecce has also been silent about what his government plans to do about the hundreds of thousands of parents, including education worker-parents, who will need to stay home with their kids on non-school days with these models.

“A plan that does not address childcare on days when our kids are not in school is not a plan,” says Becky Wallace, a parent with Ontario Families for Public Education. “The Ford government has consistently rejected calls for legislating paid sick/care days, flexible work scheduling, and income supplements. A safe return-to-school plan must include paid sick days to ensure parents are able to keep their kids home when they are ill. Minister Lecce’s current plan will disportionately harm families in low income and racialized communities who are left with no safe options.”

This plan is not good enough.

“We demand that the government commit all the needed resources to ensure a safe return for students in September, with funding to support the most in-class learning possible. We need a plan that understands that children live in communities and families not just inside classrooms, a safe plan that supports students in all those places,” says public high school teacher and parent, Melanie Willson, who organizes with the group Ontario Education Workers United.

“We need Minister Lecce to fund a plan that puts children first: hire more teachers, more support staff, more caretakers; re-open schools that have been closed down, and rent or repurpose other spaces to create more classrooms and outdoor spaces; provide the required PPE that will help maintain safety; be ready with funding for those students who will be coming in hungry and traumatized; and make sure safe school reopenings are prioritized over economic reopenings.”

Ontario Parent Action Network, Ontario Families for Public Education, and Ontario Education Workers United are together calling on the provincial government to immediately develop a plan to fully fund a safe school reopening that is centred on safety, health, and well-being for all Ontario children and education workers.

source: media release, Ontario Parent Action Network