Despite an increase in per-pupil funding in the GSN, the government is once again trying to sell “status quo” as more.
A 3 percent increase to the 2020-21 GSN will pay for increasing enrolment, the cost of the government’s labour settlements (including changes to class sizes), and inflation – additional costs that the government either already agreed to or must pay anyway.
Some funding is counted as new, even though it isn’t; for example, the “new” Support for Students Fund includes money that CUPE negotiated last October.
But most importantly, school boards will still be left to figure out how to find the money for the additional measures they will have to take to ensure there won’t be an outbreaks of COVID-19 in our schools.
There is still not enough in the 2020-21 GSN to do everything that’s needed to keep students and staff safe and healthy in post-pandemic schools.
Laura Walton
President
Ontario School Board Council of Unions
