Last week the Minister of Education announced through a memo to the Boards of Education that the money invested in education during this past year would not be continued into the coming school year, and that Boards should therefore plan accordingly.

The money the government invested into keeping schools open this year amounts to only a portion of what they cut in the two years previous to 2020-21.  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.  In addition, recently the government announced a province-wide expectation that destreaming be implemented at every school board as a step toward greater equity for student achievement.  While this is deemed a priority by the government, there has been no money set aside to ensure the necessary resources are in place to make this successful for students, nor to guarantee smaller class sizes for Academic Pathways, with our members’ workload in mind, or to ensure no impacts of destreaming on staffing allocations.

In the same memo the Government did say that while Boards should plan for the discontinuation of this year’s Covid-related investments, that the government may indeed provide increased money based on what it perceives the system to require. Further information about this is expected in April, so the time to act to influence the government’s decision-making is now.

We are asking every member to take a moment to send a letter to their MPP, copied to the Minister of Education and the Education Critic.  Feel free to use the attached template letter, to modify it, or to write something based on your own concerns and experience.

This will be a public campaign on our website so you can direct your like-minded friends and family to do the same.

The Doug Ford/Stephen Lecce 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.

You will find your MPP’s email address here

Don’t know your MPP’s name or your riding? Use the “Find my MPP” tool found toward the middle of the Government of Ontario Members page

https://armch12osstf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/TEMPLATE-LETTER-to-MPPs.docx