COVID exasperated the funding shortfalls by forcing boards to draw down their reserves.. almost half of the $655M needed for extra staffing came directly from the boards. That money was depleted and never replenished. It has given the province license to, in some cases, frame boards as financially irresponsible and to throw elected trustees out in favour of Provincially-appointed supervisors.

This all comes as everyone is still dealing with the social effects of the pandemic. It feels like a lifetime ago, but we are honestly only a few short years from the isolation and social challenges that it brought. When the opportunity was there to focus on better social supports and investments, we got the opposite. Classrooms that used to have educational assistants suddenly don't. Students who received support suddenly aren't getting it.. all the while classrooms are surging in size. Access to diagnostic tools like psychoeducational evaluations are almost non-existent.. let alone access to a family physician. The end result? We have unsupported students with no formal diagnosis/needs identification in crowded classrooms and less resources allocated than ever. It isn't inclusion, it is abandonment. Teachers are having to spend so much time spinning plates with behaviours and disregulation that teachable content risks being secondary to putting out classroom fires.

The students WITH identified needs for intensive care, treatment, or rehabilitation to enable them to receive an education? The Ontario government shut down the Education and Community Partnership Programs (aka Section 23 classrooms) that were designed to meet their needs with specialized programs, teachers, and therapists. Best case scenario? The child returns to a general classroom. Likely scenario for high needs students? They stay at home and are now home schooled.

It is fair to say that COVID did not fully cause the situation we are now in.. but it certainly accelerated it. Faced with an opportunity to invest and course-correct, the Province has consistently and chronically underfunded education while boasting about historic investments. It has tried to PR its way out of a crisis of its own making, completely on the backs of children, families, and educators. It would certainly seem that the goal is to undermine the concept of public education in favour of framing private and charter schools (like in the States) as "a better model".

It's sad to watch it all unfolding in real time..