Revealed document confirms Ford government’s priorities not about students

QUEEN’S PARK — Marit Stiles, the NDP’s Education critic, released the following statement in response to a document obtained by the Toronto Star that revealed the Ford government had planned to slash millions more from school board funding over four years, while developing online courses so students could attend high school in Ontario “entirely online” and planning to sell those online courses to other jurisdictions for a profit:

“Ontario students are already hurting from Doug Ford’s education cuts, with ballooning class sizes, cuts to the number of caring adults in schools, and course options being taken away from them.

The secret document obtained by the Star confirms that, from the get-go, the Ford government has been focused on ways to cut deep, taking millions of dollars out of our children’s education.

The Ford government was eyeing a plan to slash millions from school board funding annually over the next four years — culminating in a cut of close to $60 million in the 2023-24 school year — and to cut even more by having some students take their entire education online. That package is a recipe for dropping graduation rates, massive class sizes, fewer opportunities for kids, and fewer Ontario students being ready to succeed in university and college.

The NDP has spent months fighting the government’s education cuts and pushing back against its mandatory e-learning plan. Ontario’s children deserve a world-class education, and they deserve better than a government that wants to slash education funding and make a quick buck on the backs of children and students.”