Ontario will have 4,990 fewer educators in 2024-2025 than it would have had if the government did not change the funding formula in 2019, according to a report conducted by Canadian policy magazine the Monitor. Under the new formula, kindergarten will have to make do with 1,600 fewer staff, Grade 4 to 8 will have 1,000 less, and Grade 9 to 12 will lose 2,600. “Real education takes effort, day in and day out, from people who are present and who know how to direct wandering eyes and youthful minds to life-changing lessons and new horizons,” said Monitor writer Ricardo Tranjan in a report. “Depriving Ontario’s children of educators is the worst thing this government can do for the future of this province.”Tranjan called education funding in Ontario “a bit of a shell game for some time.” In 2019, the Ontario government announced the average class size in high schools was going to increase from 22 to 28 students. Parents and teachers pushed back, and the Ontario government lowered the average class size from 28 to 25 students. Because of larger class sizes, he said he knew Ontario would be in for a bumpy ride. Instead of engaging in meaningful discussions about the future of education in Ontario, he accused it of starting pointless quarrels. Right now, he said it is focused on cellphones. The Technical Papers for 2018-2019 and 2024-2025 provide the number of classroom educators per 1,000 students. For kindergarten, the number dropped from 95 to 90 educators. For Grade 4 to 8, it dropped from 54 to 52. Additionally, Grade 9 to 12 will drop from 74 to 70. Since Ontario has more two million children and youth in public schools, he said these small drops “add up to large cuts in the number of classroom educators.”Tranjan concluded by saying cellphones are a distraction. “The real problem is the underfunding of Ontario’s schools,” he said. The Ontario government announced new rules aimed at cracking down on cellphones and social media use in schools on Monday, but not every person was happy with the plan.The new measures will go into effect for the 2024-2025 school year.Kindergarten to Grade 6 students will be required to keep cellphones on silent and out of sight for the entire school day.
