Parents, teachers say Toronto schools already struggling as board mulls big cuts

Parents and teachers say the Toronto District School Board is already in rough shape as the board considers big cuts to balance its budget next year.

Listeners who called in to CBC Radio's Ontario Today on Thursday described a school system that is struggling to provide the basics due to a lack of resources.

Parents and teachers told host Amanda Pfeffer that the TDSB has old schools with no air conditioning, washrooms that sometimes have no toilet paper and hand soap, not enough cleaning staff and that more money is needed to deal with violent behaviour in the classroom. They said special education, as well, needs more funding.

Many of the callers who spoke pinned the blame on the Ontario government not spending enough, but one person said the TDSB could manage its existing funds differently.

Sandra Huh, a parent whose son is in Grade 7 at a TDSB school, said a lack of provincial funding is undermining public education. 

"I do think this is really an attack on the students themselves," Huh said.

'Everything is being chipped away,' parent says

Huh, whose son is autistic, said he is already not receiving enough support through special education. And when he does get support in the classroom, it is the bare minimum, she added.

"Everything is being chipped away," she said. "Schools are absolutely important. We can never spend enough money on education, but we are certainly not spending enough."

The debate about cuts is happening as the TDSB ponders options to balance its 2025-2026 budget.

The board faces a $58 million deficit next year. At the same time, the Ontario government is finalizing its newest budget, to be delivered May 15, and the TDSB has indicated it is hoping that the province will spend more per student.

TDSB staff have outlined several options for the board to adopt to balance the budget and parents and teachers are still reacting to the proposed cuts. In addition, the province has announced it is investigating the TDSB over ongoing financial deficits and spending concerns, saying it has run deficits for years with no plan to return the books to the black. 

This week, the TDSB passed a motion calling for urgent talks with the new Education Minister Paul Calandra to address what it calls a "growing inflationary gap" in per student funding in Toronto.

Options being considered by the board include cuts to pools and swim programming, an itinerant music instructors program, student access to laptops and a one-time COVID learning recovery fund. Board staff have also recommended an increase in class sizes.

TDSB Chair Neethan Shan told Ontario Today that the board has a structural deficit, which means it spends more than it receives, and its current financial situation is due to a combination of chronic under funding and inflationary pressures. 

Shan said provincial education funding needs to keep pace with inflation, the province should lift its moratorium on the closure of under-utilized schools and it should fund statutory benefits, such as the Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance, to offset increases in contribution rates.

The province announced in late April that it is taking action to make sure school boards are accountable for their financial management. It said it would launch an investigation into three boards, including the TDSB, due to spending. The province has also taken over a fourth board and ordered a fifth to repay costs of a trip. 

"Our government will be relentless in ensuring school boards stay focused on what matters most: equipping students with the tools they need to succeed," Calandra said in a news release on April 23.

"School boards must remain accountable and use public funds to directly benefit students and provide teachers and educators with the resources they need in the classroom."

Cuts would place school programming at risk, parents say 

Louise Hidinger, a parent of two children in Grades 9 and 10 at a TDSB school, said both of her children are on the school's swim team, and with the pool facing potential closure, their opportunity to swim at school is now at risk.

"Swimming is a life skill. Especially for kids in high school, it's an outlet for exercise and athletic competition. It's very upsetting to me," she said.

Coun. Josh Matlow, who represents Toronto-St. Paul's, has been campaigning publicly to keep school pools open. Shuttering the pools would not only impact students using them, but also local communities, Matlow has said.

Not every caller, however, was convinced that the TDSB is doing enough to cut its own administration.

Vicky Templin, a retired teacher who spent the majority of her career in special education, asked why the board never considers cuts at the supervisory level. 

"Cut at the top. The TDSB is too top heavy."

She said children are the future and funding should be put in the classroom. 

"This is such a huge issue," Templin said. "Over the course of my career, I saw nothing but cuts and they were cuts that affected kids, always."

Shan said the board has made cuts at its central staffing level, but said the core problem is underfunding. 

"If we were keeping up with inflation, we wouldn't be at this point," Shan said. 

Fight for funding not new, former councillor says

Janet Davis, a former city councillor, told the show that Toronto public schools have not received the provincial money they have needed to operate effectively for years. 

Davis said the funding issue is not a new one but the question of who funds education should be examined. 

Currently, local education property taxes, commercial and residential, are still paying over half the cost of education but the city has little control over how the funds are spent, she said.

"We've had this fight over adequate funding for the Toronto District School Board for over 25 years and this provincial government now is again repeating the same kind of threats and using the same coercive tactics as they have used in the past," Davis said.

The board doesn't have its 2025-2026 core funding yet and no final decisions are expected on the budget until closer to the end of June.