May 23rd, 2025
May 23rd, 2025
QUEEN’S PARK — Chandra Pasma, Official Opposition Shadow Minister for Education, released the following statement in response to the government’s core education funding announcement today:
“Our students are struggling to learn in overcrowded, crumbling classrooms without the resources they need – even basic things like paper and pencils. We have a shortage of qualified educators and a mental health crisis in our schools. And yet school boards have been forced to make cut after cut because of this government’s underfunding of education.
And now, once again, the Ford government is failing to close the funding gap for our schools. Since Doug Ford took power in 2018 he has cut more than $3.1 billion in funding for our schools. This year’s core education funding doesn’t even come close to replacing those cuts, despite the government’s claims of record funding.
The government’s Core Education Funding does nothing to help school boards struggling to keep school buses on the road, to keep special education classes open, or to offer mental health supports to students who are brave enough to ask for help.
At a moment when we have a repair backlog of over $17 billion, and students are in schools with crumbling ceilings, flooded hallways, and lead in the drinking water, $2 billion in repair funding just isn’t going to cut it.
It’s time for Doug Ford and Paul Calandra to put our kids first and properly fund our schools so that every child gets the support they need to learn in a safe and healthy school.”