Ford government’s chronic underfunding of education is creating compounding issues for staff and students

Violent incidents, classroom disruptions, staff shortages and worker burnout are happening at unprecedented rates in Ontario schools, and education workers say chronic underfunding from the province is the reason why. 

In a recent report released by CUPE and exclusively obtained by PressProgress, 12,000 education workers surveyed across the province overwhelmingly shared the same sentiments: that they’re overworked, they’re undersupported and they are not given the tools to meet the needs of students in the classroom. An overwhelming majority of workers in these positions say more personnel is needed to do their jobs effectively. 

According to the report, the provincial government has reduced real per-pupil funding for education since 2011-2012. If funding stayed at 2011 levels, there would be $10.7 billion more in funding for school boards just this year alone. 

Joe Tigani, president of the Ontario School Board Council of Unions, said the funding cuts have been an ongoing issue since the Ford Government took office. He added that these cuts are putting workers and students at risk. 

“Students are basically being left behind and we see an education system that is frankly in crisis,” Tigani said.

Because of the lack of funding, when education workers take time off, coworkers and  students are both impacted. One in three survey respondents said that when they take time off, they are not replaced while they are on leave. An additional 15% said they are replaced, but not on the first day. In those situations it is typically left to their coworkers to cover for them when possible.

Education workers, which includes educational assistants, secretaries, early childhood educators and custodians, are noticing the difference. According to the survey 84% of education workers feel stress from excessive workloads, and 51% said they have taken time off because of stress or burnout. 

Violence from students has always been an unfortunate part of the job for educational assistants, but it has become more commonplace. 

In the survey, nearly 96% of educational assistants reported violent or disruptive incidents at work, and over half of them said these incidents happen to them daily. 

Rebecca Avey, an educational assistant and CUPE Local 7575 president, told PressProgress she was attacked by a student and sustained a severe concussion that forced her to take nearly a year off work. 

“That existed solely because I was placed in that situation alone,” Avey said. 

Avey said a lack of appropriate support for a student with additional needs, especially one that has difficulty self-regulating, can sometimes result in violent outbursts. 

Avey said funding cutbacks plays a part in the increased frequency of violence in schools. 

Despite what happened to her, Avey says she does not blame the student. After recovering from her injury, she continued working with that student directly.  

“Not one educational assistant ever blames the student,” Avey said. “They have a specific identified set of needs that we’re not meeting and that is solely due to the provincial funding cut.”

Paul Nagy, an educational assistant in the London area that works with high school students said that students that typically work with educational assistants are not getting the appropriate level of support because the understaffed workers have to address “more explosive students”

As a result, these students can sometimes slip through the cracks.

“They kind of have to prioritize who needs it (support) more,” Nagy told PressProgress.

“You might have a kid that gets a little extra support with their learning for one block a day, maybe,” Nagy said. “And sorry but you’re not getting that today because three staff are away… and we need them in this class because these kids have higher needs.” 

Students that don’t require additional support are also being affected by the staff shortages and violent disruptions. 

“It’s normal to have to see a kid have a meltdown, trash the classroom, and have to evacuate,” Nagy said. “Kids are given evacuation training and are shown like, this is the plan.”

The funding shortages are also causing retention issues. Nagy said that burnout and lack of support is pushing education workers to leave the field entirely. 

These issues are affecting schools province-wide, but Avey said that some parents might not even be aware of how bad it has become. 

“We’re trying to have those hard conversations with parents to say, ‘Look, we don’t think you understand how disruptive the learning environment is for your children, and the level of violence that they’re seeing on a daily basis’,” Avey said.  

Although the Ford Government has made announcements about increasing funding to education, including one at the end of January about spending $1.3 billion to build new schools, Tigani doesn’t expect funding like this to help address the personnel issues impacting workers and students. 

“The Ford Government will often use little announcements of record, or unprecedented, levels of investment in public education, and I kind of shake my head,” said Tigani.

“We’re not seeing it in schools, we’re not seeing it getting to the front line – to workers and to students.”

Given the current state of schools in the province, Tigani said that it’s disturbing as an Ontarian to think that Doug Ford is the leader that is supposed to represent the people of Ontario. He added that he “shudders to think” what it will look like if Ford gets another term in office.

“Electing the Ford government for another four years allows the province of Ontario’s education system to be stuck, or even worse, continue to simply erode right before our eyes.”

The Ministry of Education was reached for comment but did not respond prior to publication.