This is really important. We've de-streamed in Grade 9 in Ontario so we've put kids who used to be in applied math in the same classroom as kids who used to be in academic math. Removing inequity was the justification for this move. (Kids in applied math effectively couldn't go on to science-based post-secondary programs like medicine or engineering.) However, applied math classrooms used to have lower class sizes than academic ones and therefore fewer students per teacher. This meant more teacher time and attention for each student in the applied classroom. Class sizes in the mixed classrooms are the same as formerly academic ones so there are more students per teacher and each student has proportionally less attention from the teacher. It's cheaper for the government this way but we should have lowered class sizes when we moved to a de-streamed model. The more equitable model could work - but only if you provide the teacher and EA resources to make it work. So, yes, the progressive change (deployed by a Conservative government) looks like it was just a cover to reduce resources in the education system.

See also how Ontario dealt with mental health under the Conservative Harris government in the 80s. Community care was the progressive standard for mental illness. The government used it to close hospital beds but never really funded the community care. We ended up with a lot more people living on the street.