Nearly 300 full-time TDSB jobs could be lost due to budget cuts
Posted August 28, 2019 6:04 am.
Last Updated August 28, 2019 1:00 pm.
Nearly 300 full-time jobs are on the chopping block at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) as they look to save millions of dollars following cuts by the provincial government.
A report, which you can read below, will go before the TDSB board on Wednesday — combining both layoffs and attrition to appease budget restrictions.
Staff reductions include learning coaches, guidance counsellors, principals, custodians, student support services and 36 teaching jobs.
The TDSB said many of the jobs have already been eliminated in preparation for the new school year.
Reductions are also being made to the number of students eligible to receive TTC tokens if they live far away from a specialized school.
The report also looks at increasing fees for extra-curricular programs.
The board is looking to cut $46.8 million from the budget.
When asked previously about the cuts needed to be made by school boards to meet the provincial budget, Premier Doug Ford said they would amount to attrition.
However, both the teachers’ union and government opposition have said this isn’t true. It’s estimated that as many as 3,500 teaching jobs will be lost across the province because of these cuts.
Provincial Education Minister Stephen Lecce spoke to the media from Queen’s Park on Wednesday and suggested that the issues facing school boards stem from five years of structural deficits under the previous administration.
“What I’m simply citing is a five-year reality of structural deficits, so I’ll let you all pine if you think that is a challenge that manifests singularly from this government or a problem that existed well before our election last June,” he said.
Lecce added that any board can take the provincial government up on its offer of free auditing.
“Two boards of the 72 in Ontario have taken up my offer — two boards — so my message to any board that faces fiscal challenges that precede our government is to take us up on the offer.”
He also noted that the report from the board came out in June and that he hopes some of the teachers will be hired back through September.
TDSB job cuts by CityNewsToronto on Scribd
