Education Minister, Paul Calandra, is on a dangerous path. While ordinary people in this province are struggling to put food on the table, find housing, or pay for basic medications, Calandra is focused on grabbing more power—at the expense of democracy, public education, and community voices.

Ahead of the final TDSB meeting on June 18, let's come together on an online Phone Zap at 4:30 pm on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. We want those responsible to know that they need to fund our schools adequately and we want trustees to know that our communities will not stand for any more cuts.

The 2025 Ontario budget has lots of big numbers, but fails to address funding shortfalls in core program areas. CCPA’s same-day budget analysis examined the broad trend, and in an article for The Toronto Star, we discussed postsecondary funding. 

Rhianne Campbell has the latest from the official opposition who says the provincial government is failing Ontario students.

In a report last year, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found that Ontario's core education funding has dropped by $1,500 per student since 2018, a figure the government has disputed.

We are in an existential moment for public education. But this didn’t happen overnight. For years, Ford’s Conservatives have chipped away at our shared institutions—while blaming educators, shifting public dollars to private interests, and hoping we wouldn’t notice.

The Ford government is, once again, pointing its finger in the wrong direction, blaming school boards for not getting by on less money to fund their operations. For years, boards have routinely been slipping deeper into the water as they beg the Ministry of Education to let them run annual deficits or spoon off their reserve funds to balance their budgets.

Underfunding, overcrowded classrooms, increasing student needs, lack of supports such as school psychologists and dwindling professional health services are all to blame for the increase, researchers say. The problem is compounded by the food insecurity many families are facing and other socio-economic stressors, according to Darby Mallory, a graduate student and co-author of the report.

The Toronto District School Board is considering closing 36 swimming pools, including in the East Toronto community, as it grapples with a projected $58-million deficit for the 2025–26 school year.

The money to pay for music teaching in our schools is there — just not the will. And why would there be any will for cash for the provincial public school system when the Progressive Conservative politicians who control the money have their kids and those of their backers safely ensconced in the gender-segregated scholastic sanctuaries of the lush private school system?