Ford leaving students behind with cuts to special education and mental health supports

QUEEN’S PARK – Following the Minister of Education’s recent core education funding announcement which revealed more cuts, the NDP Shadow Minister of Education MPP Chandra Pasma (Ottawa West – Nepean) released the following statement.

“This funding announcement is yet another cut disguised as an increase. Per-student funding is once again failing to keep up with inflation, while the Ford government ignores the growing number of students being pushed out of classrooms because they aren’t getting the supports they need.

“Even after the Auditor General confirmed that school boards are already spending far more on special education than they receive from the province, this government is reducing the per-pupil special education allocation that pays for teachers, educational assistants, psychologists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, and other critical staff.

“At the same time, mental health funding is being frozen in the middle of a worsening youth mental health crisis, where only one in ten schools has regular access to a mental health professional. To make matters worse, these documents show the government didn’t even spend all the money it allocated for core education funding last year. Students, families, and educators deserve far better than to continue to be underfunded and neglect by Ford and his ministers.”