Ontario Premier Doug Ford, right, and Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy visit students at Highfield Junior Public School in Toronto on Wednesday.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
The Ontario government is launching a program to provide elementary school teachers with $750 spending cards to buy their own classroom supplies, with Education Minister Paul Calandra saying the current funding isn’t making its way to front-line educators.
Mr. Calandra, alongside Premier Doug Ford and Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, made the prebudget announcement Wednesday at a junior public school in Etobicoke. The government said the cost of the new spending cards is pegged at $66-million. Mr. Bethlenfalvy will release the province’s budget on March 26.
The new “classroom supplies fund” will launch in September. Homeroom teachers from kindergarten to Grade 8 will have access to $750 each school year and be able to purchase supplies through a new provincial website. The government said the money can be used for common classroom items such as writing supplies, notebooks, calculators, chalk, arts and crafts materials, tissues and paper towels.
Many teachers already purchase their own supplies out-of-pocket or fundraise in order to do so.
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Mr. Ford said the current system for distributing supplies, through the schools, isn’t reaching front-line teachers.
“It’s the teachers that are going to decide what they need, because every class is unique,” Mr. Ford said.
“This is the greatest thing I think we’ve ever done for public education.”
Mr. Calandra said he’s heard from principals who are frustrated that they are caught in the middle of having to decide which supplies to buy for classrooms.
“Almost every single teacher, every classroom I go into, they tell me the exact same thing: I need to have the ability to order things for myself so that I can address some of the needs in my classroom,” he said.
He said the new site will be set up in conjunction with Supply Ontario, the province’s bulk purchasing agency. The province is also sending out surveys to teachers, asking them for input about which types of supplies they’d like to buy.
David Mastin, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, said any new investments in education are welcomed by teachers, but he characterized the new funding as a “gift” ahead of contract talks set to begin later this year.
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“The government is trying to make us believe that this is a gift that’s being given prior to what is going to be probably a very contentious round of central bargaining,” said Mr. Mastin, whose union represents more than 80,000 education workers.
“And we shouldn’t be looking at Kleenex, paper towel, pencils, pens and paper stationery as gifts. These things should be an automatic in education. We shouldn’t even be talking about this. This should be a foregone conclusion.”
Asked if he was launching the fund to placate teachers ahead of contract talks – the current collective agreements expire on Aug. 31 – Mr. Ford scoffed.
“I find that question insulting. We don’t placate anyone. We appreciate our teachers,” he said.
According to a provincial financial accountability office report released last October, the government’s education spending will grow at an average rate of 2.5 per cent, from $40.1-billion in 2024-25 to $43.2-billion in 2027-28.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says elementary school teachers will be getting $750 purchasing cards starting in the next school year for classroom supplies. Ford and Education Minister Paul Calandra say teachers need to have proper tools to ensure student success.
The Canadian Press
The office called it “a significantly slower pace” than the 8.3-per-cent average annual growth over the previous three years, from 2021-22 to 2024-25.
The report also said the real per-student provincial operating funding to school boards was $14,504 as of 2024-25 – which it said is the lowest level over the past 10 years.
Mr. Ford, however, defended the government’s funding, noting that it has increased each year while the student population is declining. He also said the government is spending tens of billions on infrastructure, including on schools.
Since taking over the education portfolio last year, Mr. Calandra has made drastic changes, including putting eight school boards – among them the Toronto District School Board – under ministry supervision.
Almost 40 per cent of the student population is now under control of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Calandra said Wednesday.
“They’re not going to be turned back until they are on the right path,” he said, adding that it could take years.
The government is also mulling the elimination of school trustees, although Mr. Calandra said he hasn’t yet made a final decision.
Kathleen Woodcock, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, called on the government to provide a clear plan for boards under supervision so they “have a way to be out of that situation.”
With a report from Jeff Gray