Toronto & York Region Labour Council: Hypocrite Calandra Touts “Increased Funding” at New School
TORONTO, Oct. 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Toronto & York Region Labour Council, Teachers, parents and the Fund Our Schools campaign are calling out Education Minister Paul Calandra for his government’s failed track record on education funding. While Minister Calandra celebrates a new build addition to to a school today, the rest of the school system is crumbing under repair backlogs, increased class sizes and cuts that hurt kids.
Education workers point out that the per student funding today is far below when the Ford government first took office in 2018 – funding has not kept up with inflation. While Calandra is touting his government’s “increased funding on education,” frontline workers are pointing out the truth: billions in underfunding.
“The system is under stress. I hear from teachers and education workers that they’re doing their best to keep schools functioning and engaging, but it’s increasingly an uphill battle. From increased class sizes, the cancelled remedial supports for students, I hear everyday from parents and staff that they’re overwhelmed,” said Alexis Dawson, a TDSB parent and publicly elected school board trustee for Ward 9, Davenport and Spadina-Fort York
“Money has been flatlined but costs have gone up. And our children are paying the price. They are gutting special education programs, increasing class sizes, and I hear that teachers are buying their own toilet paper and photocopy paper because the schools simply can’t provide them,” said Jordan Topp, a parent at Bloor Collegiate Institute.
The protest today also saw the appearance of Canadian Federation of Students, teachers’ unions such as the Toronto Education Workers, Elementary Teachers of Toronto and OSSTF Toronto. They are all appealing to the public to stop Bill 33, which is legislation that is designed to shield the Province from the results of under-funding and provide unilateral control of education to the Education Minister.
“Bill 33 is a virus to our democracy. It provides our Education Minister the power to take over any school board for any reason whatsoever, taking away the voice of parents and communities. It has zero public accountability, zero transparency. If parents are concerned about the direction that education is headed, they need to contact their local MPP to put a stop to Bill 33,” said Chandra Pasma, MPP for Ottawa-Nepean and education critic for the opposition party.
For more information, visit www.fundourschools.ca.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Jennifer Huang
Toronto & York Region Labour Council
jhuang@labourcouncil.ca
416-886-4082
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