Ontario NDP leader unveils $830-million plan to clear school repair backlog

Article content

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles delivered a broad education platform on Feb. 4 that was long on criticism of Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford, but short on details about how she would fund her plan.

Article content

Article content

If elected in the upcoming provincial election, the NDP would spend $830 million a year for 10 years to clear the repair backlog in schools, said Stiles, unveiled her education platform at Maison de la Francophonie d’Ottawa. The NDP would also hire more teachers and other education workers, end the practice of streaming, invest in francophone education and French immersion programming in the English system as well as fixing student transportation funding.

Article content

Ontario’s schools have a massive repair backlog that has grown under Ford’s government, said Stiles.

“Right now our schools are literally falling apart,” she said, flanked by NDP candidates running in Ottawa ridings. “We have a $22.3 billion repair backlog that was left behind by the Liberals and was allowed to grow and fester and grow again by Ford.”

Stiles also promised a universal food program for schools. Last year in the federal budget, the government announced $1 billion over five years for a national program, which is to provide meals for up to 400,000 more children every year, beyond those served by existing school food programs.

“Ontario is the only province that hasn’t signed on to the federal program, and I think that’s shameful at a time when food bank use is up,” said Stiles. “We can ensure that kids focus on their teachers, not their hunger. And of course, we’re going to use Ontario-grown food.”

Much of Stiles’s criticism about school underfunding has been underlined in recent reports.

In December, the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario concluded that it will cost $21.7 billion over the next 10 years to clear the repair backlog and maintain schools in states of good repair, plus another $9.8 billion to build new schools.

Article content

Meanwhile, many school boards are facing deficit budgets this year and are scrambling to cut costs by the end of the year.

Trustees at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board heard last week that despite passing a balanced budget for this school year, the board is facing a deficit of $4.2 million and must find between $17 million and $20 million in savings to balance its 2025-26 budget. Provincial funding is not expected to increase and won’t address inflationary, replacement or special education pressures, the trustees heard. 

“The cost of education has gone up, but we have not actually increased education (funding) at the same rate,” said Stiles, who was a Toronto District School Board from 2014 until 2018.

“It’s a giant hole in our education budget, and our children are seeing the impact of that every day. Fewer education assistants, bigger class sizes, fewer supports.”

But Stiles offered no explanation as to where the NDP will find the money to fulfill the promises, except to say that if she becomes premier, her government would review and revise the education funding formula, which is used to calculate allocations to each school board based on the number of students as well as funding for specific needs.

Article content

No government has addressed the funding formula in years, said Stiles.

“Our education is funded right now on a formula that (addresses) bums in seats as opposed to student needs,” she said. “That tells you a lot of what this government’s priorities are. It’s all about the numbers. It’s not about the kids’ needs.”

As for figuring out the priorities, that’s a challenge because “everything is on fire in our education system,” said Chandra Pasma, the NDP’s Ottawa West-Nepean candidate, who was the party’s education critic for the last two and a half years. 

“Certainly, we need to provide the supports that our kids need,” she said. “That starts with making sure there are education workers who are there every single day, bringing down class sizes, helping children who have disabilities or special needs, making sure that the needs of every child are met, making sure that schools are a safe place for kids to be every single day.”

Stephen Skoutahan, the president of the Ottawa Carleton unit of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, said much of the NDP platform aligned with his members’ concerns, particularly around special education funding, which would help address violence in the classroom.

Article content

“When students and their needs aren’t met, they become violent and dysregulated in the classroom,” he said.

“A dollar spent in the classroom gets a $7 return. But we’re not going to see that return in two, three or four-year terms of public office. We’re going to see it in 20 years. We have to make that commitment.”

Food insecurity in schools is a real problem, said Jennifer Duncan, the unit’s third vice-president.

“Kids who are hungry are not focused and primed for learning,” she said. “We used to  have breakfast programs in schools, but they are continually underfunded and fewer and fewer schools qualify to have these breakfast programs.”

The province needs to take a serious look at funding for student needs, not numbers of students, said Duncan.

“I think she (Stiles) had the right focus. There weren’t a lot of details in the announcement,” she said. “I’d like to see more details.”

Article content