OTTAWA – Ontario NDP Shadow Minister for Education, Chandra Pasma (Ottawa West – Nepean) released the following statement after the Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU) released their report on support staff in education:
“Every child deserves the support they need to learn, grow and thrive, but this Minister of Education is failing them. Across all 72 school boards, education workers are being stretched thinner, while 92 per cent say more staff are needed to support students.
"In the middle of a mental health crisis, Ford’s funding cuts are leading to the loss of psychologists, social workers and child and youth workers in our schools. Children are waiting too long for assessments, kindergarten classes are getting bigger, and students are paying the price. Our schools need more education workers, not more cuts. Doug Ford and his Minister of Education need to start putting students first."
BACKGROUND:
- All 72 school boards in Ontario are affected by worsening student-to-staff ratios for education workers compared to 2018-19. This includes EAs, ECEs, custodians and caretakers, school office staff, trades and maintenance workers, library technicians and IT staff, and professional staff (including psychologists, social workers, speech and language professionals, and attendance counselors).
- 92.3% of education workers say more staff are needed in their schools to improve support for students.
- Class sizes for kindergarteners have increased compared to 2018-29 – in 2025-26, 37.5% of all kindergarten classes had more than 26 students.
- In the middle of a mental health crisis, 21 boards have cut psychologists, 12 have cut child and youth workers, 8 have cut social workers, and 5 have cut attendance counselors.
- The Auditor General flagged that children are waiting too long for assessments, but 20 boards have cut speech and language professionals and 30 bords have worse student-to-staff ratios than they did in 2018-19.