HomeMy WebLinkAboutOCDSB Submission to the Fall 2020 Budget ConsultationsOffice of the Chair of the Board
Sent by email: submissions@ontario.ca
16 October 2020
The Honourable Rod Phillips
Minister of Finance
c/o Budget Secretariat
Frost Building North, 3rd floor
95 Grosvenor Street
Toronto ON M7A 1Z1
RE: Fall 2020 Budget Consultations
Dear Minister Phillips,
As a front-line provider of public education services in a time of a global pandemic,
the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board strongly endeavors to fulfill its mandate to
promote student achievement and well-being, ensure effective stewardship of the
board’s resources, and deliver effective and appropriate education programs to its
pupils.
In the short term, keeping schools safely open for students is an essential support for
maintaining the ability of parents to continue to work and support their families, and
thereby keeping the Ontario economy functioning. In the longer term, preparing our
students for future success as citizens and contributors to the social and economic
health of the Province of Ontario will be key to supporting Ontario’s recovery from
the devastating impacts of COVID-19 over the coming years.
We acknowledge the additional funding support that has been provided by the
Ministry of Education from provincial funds and from transfers from the federal
government, to help cover the cost of health and safety measures – additional
staffing to permit smaller class sizes, cleaning, PPE, improving school ventilation,
addressing mental health, acquisition of technology, and many other components –
but these represent continuing and growing pressures on our budgets through the
2020-2021 school year, and may be expected to continue into 2021-2022.
For the upcoming provincial budget, we make the following specific requests:
1. We appreciate that school boards have been allowed to use some of their
reserve funds to pay for COVID-19 related resources, but we must point out
that these reserves were, in large part, already designated to be applied to
other significant one-time needs. On 25 September 2020, we wrote to the
Premier and the Minister to ask for their commitment (1) to make school
boards whole with respect to their extraordinary COVID-19 related use of
reserves, and (2) to make school boards whole with respect to any unplanned
COVID-19 related shortfalls arising directly from (a) implementing school
districts’ Ministry-confirmed plans, (b) further changes in Ministry direction, or
(c) unforeseen and unavoidable local COVID-19 related circumstances. To
date, our relative success in limiting the spread of COVID-19 inside OCDSB
schools has been due to the extraordinary efforts of all staff and our
investment in additional locally sourced and specialized PPE to supplement
the PPE provided from the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services.
We reiterate our request to be made whole for the use of reserves and
additional unplanned COVID-19 related shortfalls and ask that this
commitment be clearly reflected in the next Ontario budget. We further ask
that additional funding be allocated not solely on the basis of enrolment, but
recognizing that some districts such as the OCDSB are located in COVID 19
“hot spots” and consequently have heavier expenses.
2.We ask for increased funding to meet the needs of our special education
students, who experienced a greater and highly detrimental impact from the
closure of schools in March 2020. The need is particularly acute for the
growing numbers of high-needs students and students exhibiting dysregulated
behavior, especially in elementary schools.
3.We ask you to recognize the needs of inclusive classrooms at all grade levels,
especially those with a high proportion of English Language Learners and
exceptional pupils, by providing adequate funding for support staff and smaller
class sizes where needed to improve achievement and well-being in
high-needs schools and for high-needs students.
4.We ask you to fully fund the impact of inflation on operating costs for energy,
building maintenance, transportation, learning resources and classroom
supplies. COVID-19 has highlighted the need for improved ventilation in
schools, and for older schools this comes at great expense. COVID-19 has
also highlighted the challenge of dealing with a growing shortage of school
bus drivers, in part due to the very low wages paid despite their increased
responsibilities for maintaining health and safety on school buses in response
to the pandemic; any solution to this challenge will raise transportation costs.
5.Regarding capital funding, school districts continue to need to build new
schools to address issues of new growth and overcrowding. We also need to
consider the cost of major renovation or replacement for older schools where
the cost of renovation may exceed the cost of replacement. Funding needs to
be provided using benchmarks that recognize regional differences in
construction costs and the rising costs of building materials, and recognizing
the inflation that may occur between the time a capital grant is announced and
the expected start time of school construction, which may extend to months or
even years of waiting for all the Ministry and municipal approvals required at
different stages of the project.
Thank you for your attention to our requests. We look forward to seeing them
reflected in the next provincial budget.
Sincerely,
Lynn Scott
Chair of the Board
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