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HomeMy WebLinkAboutChair's Correspondence - Letter to Minister of Education concerning Funding Formula Deficiencies OTTA;WA-CA:RLETO N DI STRICT SCHOC>I IIGARD Office of the Chair of the Board Confidential 11 July 2023 The Honourable Stephen Lecce Minister of Education 438 University Ave, 5th Floor Toronto, Ontario M7A 1N3 Re: Funding Formula Deficiencies Dear Minister Lecce: On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I am writing to express our grave concerns regarding the impact of the underfunding of the public education system in Ontario. The goal of public education, and therefore all school districts, is to provide the best opportunity for success to all students but the current lack of funding is putting our most vulnerable students at risk. Further, it is eroding away one of the province's competitive advantages in producing exceptionally prepared graduates to further contribute to society and our economy. Ontario exports knowledge, with one of the highest percentages of populations with a post secondary education worldwide. This is a boon to the economy, to our trade balance, and to exports. This knowledge based economy is founded on Ontario having a world class public education system, with Ontario students frequently topping international charts. The reality is that for years the public education system in Ontario has been underfunded in almost all areas of school board operations, including specifically but not exclusively: Occasional Teacher Replacement Costs, Special Education, Statutory benefits such as the CPP enhancement, and Transportation. This is further exacerbated by under-funding in inflation against the CPI index. These continued funding shortfalls are having a directly negative impact on the preparedness of our graduates to further contribute to our society and future economy in the exceptional ways they have in the past. We see the declining results provincially in their writing, arithmetic, and EQAO scores; but the economic impacts of these funding gaps will not be seen for years if not decades. Occasional Teacher Replacement costs are funded through the Pupil Foundation Allocations (PFA) with expected funding of approximately $12.0M for 2023-2024 but the actual estimated costs are expected to be $31.5M leaving a shortfall of$19.5M. This shortfall is mainly related to sick time benefits that were centrally negotiated and; therefore, beyond the control of the OCDSB. The negative impact of underfunding the mandate of this benefit program is being felt amongst most school boards in the province and is drastically impacting our ability to fund release time for our educators for professional training to better prepare them for the classroom in a rapidly changing world. Under the Education Act every child is entitled to an education, and the Ontario's Human Rights Code ensures students with disabilities have a right to be free from discrimination including the duty to accommodate students' disability related needs. That duty also covers the accommodation process and everyone involved. Unfortunately, the overall funding model for Special Education does not meet the requirements to eliminate these barriers, to provide an equal access to education, which we are obligated under these laws. Each year the OCDSB has been underfunded in this area, by an average of 7.3%, which is required to be covered from other areas within the budget. Further, funding for benefits has not kept pace with statutory increases, specifically the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) enhancement which was introduced in 2019. Statutory benefits are funded using a generic funding model that has decreased in 2023-2024 in comparison to 2022-2023. In the 2022-2023 technical papers, classroom staffing was provided 9.76% of benchmark salaries for benefits; however, in 2023-2024 that dropped to 9.59%. Based on the information provided, the OCDSB will have to pay an additional $900,000 in CPP benefits with less funding when compared to the prior year's technical papers. Transportation costs are being funded through the GSN in an envelope at approximately $47.3M but the actual costs are budgeted to be $53.9M leaving a shortfall of$6.6M. Furthermore, the overall funding is expected to drop more than $13.8M+ (-35%) in four years, when bridge funding ends. These cuts will again impact our most vulnerable students with special needs as reduced bus service for students in community school programs will need to be put in place. Simply put, the above pressures and continued inflation have put in jeopardy our school board's ability to properly provide a safe and equitable environment that students and staff are legally entitled to, and to provide the education they deserve. School boards are being forced to use GSN funding meant to deliver the regular program to cover the basic growing costs of areas that are beyond our control and chronically under-funded. Therefore, I am asking that your government commit to adjusting the shortfalls in the funding formula to properly provide the additional resources necessary to support the underfunded areas. This will allow school boards to focus on the core requirements to better prepare our educators and support our students in their educational goals. I am available at your earliest convenience to further discuss the impact of the funding shortfalls. Sincerely, Lyra Evans, Chair of the OCDSB cc: Trustees, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board Cathy Abraham, President of Ontario Public School Boards' Association Joel Harden, MPP, Ottawa Centre Stephen Blais, MPP, Orleans John Fraser, MPP, Ottawa South Lucille Collard, MPP, Ottawa-Vanier Lisa MacLeod, MPP, Nepean Chandra Pasma, MPP, Ottawa West-Nepean Goldie Ghamari, MPP, Carleton Joanne MacEwan, President/Chairperson Ottawa Student Transportation Authority Senior Staff, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board Corporate Records /!-- This code was added to remove the metadata from document view in Weblink -->