The Toronto District School Board says it requires a “New Deal” from the provincial government to address its funding challenges as it tries to balance its budget for the next academic year.
In a letter to Education Minister Stephen Lecce on Wednesday, TDSB President Rachel Chernos-Lin said the board needs adequate financial support to meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands of students it serves.
The board currently faces a projected deficit of $26.5 million for 2024-2025. The province requires school boards to submit a balanced budget by June 30.
“Just as municipalities like the City of Toronto and Ottawa have received new funding deals, as the country’s largest school board, the TDSB is also demanding a New Deal that recognizes the unique challenges of Canada’s largest school board,” Chernos – Lin said, referring to the financing agreement reached between the two levels of government.
“We cannot continue to operate under outdated funding models that do not adequately address the current and future needs of our students. A prosperous Ontario includes a prosperous Toronto, and contribute to a Toronto that will remain the economic engine of the province ten or ten years from now. years. Twenty years from now is directly related to what we invest in education today.”
Chernos-Lin is calling on the province to address its significant structural deficit, which was created in part, she said, by increases in Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance rates, the funding gap for workers’ wages. teachers, a provincial moratorium on school closures and COVID-19. 19 expenses.
Earlier this month, Lecce rejected the TDSB’s request to be allowed to temporarily combine up to four schools per year while the province decided the fate of the moratorium. In the letter, the TDSB chairman said the board “would be in a different financial situation” if its request were granted.
Chernos-Lin acknowledged the province has provided the TDSB with $130 million in additional funding since 2019, most of which represents salary increases.
“The increase in funding per student is effectively 8.5%, which sounds impressive, but once we take into account inflation, which over the same period was 13.8%, this figure looks less rosy and actually “points to a reduction in per-pupil funding. And while we have had occasional adjustments to the benchmarks, they have not been adjusted to reflect the true cost of doing business in Toronto,” the president said in her letter.
He noted that due to funding challenges, the board has been forced to make cuts to its annual budgets since 2019 to balance them.
For the 2024-2025 budget, trustees have already voted to make cuts to central staff, support staff personal well-being and school renovation costs, which will result in a reduction of $17 million.
In the coming weeks, trustees will have to decide whether to implement other options to balance the budget. They include reducing international language and African heritage programs, restructuring adult day schools, eliminating senior day programs and weekend outdoor educational trips for sixth graders, and revising permit fees for community groups using TDSB facilities.
“After multiple opportunities for public comment, it is clear that if we accept the additional balancing options presented by staff (currently delayed), it would have a detrimental impact on many in our communities, including seniors, newcomers, and families with young children who attend our international language programs,” Chernos-Lin said in the letter.
She concluded the letter by saying that she is willing to meet with Minister Lecce to further discuss the challenges facing the board.
“Minister, I know you want our students to succeed. Us too,” Chernos-Lin said.
The TDSB has more than 238,000 students in 582 schools and also serves more than 100,000 students in adult and continuing education programs.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Minister Lecce said the province has provided billions of dollars more in funding to school boards.
“Although there are fewer students in the system, particularly in TDSB, we hope that school boards will balance their budgets and put student academic achievement as the top priority. That is the message we are sending to school boards,” Lecce said.
“The message sent to TDSB is that they have over $100 million and 10,000 fewer students to provide leadership and get back to the basics of education in Ontario classrooms.”