TDSB asks Ford government to cover pandemic-related expenses or risk cuts to student services

The Toronto District School Board is asking the Ford government for more than $200 million to cover the cost of COVID-19 related expenditures, budget deficits, and underfunded employee benefits or risk cuts to student services and programs.

In a letter addressed to Education Minister Stephen Lecce, the TSDB says it was forced to use almost $70.1 million of its reserve funds to cover the cost of additional staffing, remote and in-person learning, and other pandemic-related costs not covered by the Ministry.

“We are writing to you today to request that the Provincial Government repay the pandemic costs incurred by the TDSB so that we can continue to deliver the programs and services that students require for academic success, safety and well-being,” reads the letter signed by TDSB chair Rachel Chernos Lin and TDSB director Colleen Russell-Rawlins.

The board notes that while the Ministry did provide additional investments to school boards during the pandemic, education and childcare received only 2 per cent of the province’s overall pandemic spending.

The TDSB says it is also concerned that pandemic funding previously provided by the Ford government will not continue beyond August and it is asking for almost $32 million to maintain the additional 485 staff resources that were put into the system such as teachers, social workers, child and youth workers, caretaking and vice-principals.

“As you can imagine, given the rise in violent incidents involving youth in Toronto, the reduction of adults in our building and correlating loss of support to our students is a major cause for concern and may compromise school safety,” reads the letter. “This funding must continue.”

The letter goes on to say that prior to the pandemic, the TDSB was facing a structural deficit in its budget due to the misalignment between board commitments and the Provincial funding formula. The board says it is now faced with a $61 million deficit for the 2023-24 school year.

“If the pandemic costs incurred by the Board were reimbursed by the Ministry, the TDSB would have additional funding to support its current financial shortfall without having to reduce programs and services for students,” it says.

Finally, the TDSB is calling on the government to fund employee benefits and sick leave costs, which they project to be almost $49 million in 2023-24, and that the actual cost of these benefits should be extended to all Ontario school boards.

Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is set to table the provincial budget on Thursday. He has previously said that after unprecedented spending to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, now is the time for governments to show “restraint.”

The government is expected to let its COVID-19 sick day program that provided three paid days off to workers during the pandemic expire at the end of the month.