Provincial funding and revenue shortfalls during the COVID-19 pandemic have held back the TDSB’s ability to reach the full potential of the Multi-Year Strategic Plan and long-identified student needs.
After the amalgamation of public school boards in 1998, much of the ability to identify and fund local needs was lost. The introduction of the provincial funding formula has stifled local school boards’ ability to properly fund and expand programs.
Successive provincial governments have failed to properly fund education, leaving local school board scrambling every year. The provincial funding formula simply hasn’t kept up with student learning needs. Fixing the funding formula would mean smaller class sizes, improved funding for libraries, guidance, music, art, and physical education, as well as school operations and maintenance.
As a result of Doug Ford’s cuts, the TDSB is receiving $186.20 less per student in the 2021-2022 school year than the 2017-2018 school year, when adjusted for inflation.
I am committed to being a strong advocate for better education funding who fights against cuts and works with other levels of government to ensure that our schools are prospering.
- Advocate for changes to the provincial education funding formula, which has provided inadequate funding to meet the needs of students since it was introduced in 1997. This includes basing funding on actual headcounts, instead of estimates.
- Advocating for additional funding and resources for special education, which has been underfunded for far too long.
- Advocating for equal access to Educational Development Charges—current rules from the province don’t allow the TDSB to collect funds from new developments, making it hard for the TDSB to build local school capacity in rapidly growing neighbourhoods.
- Advocating for provincial funding to fix our schools and improve school infrastructure
- Ensuring opportunities for community involvement in the budget process