Education/training
Public education gets cash injectionMinister of Education, Elizabeth Witmer, recently announced a major increase of nearly $350 million in new funding for Ontario's public schools. |
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 [ 2002-06-26 ] |
"This investment is part of our government's solid commitment to creating a strong public school system in Ontario," Witmer said. "We've had to make difficult decisions about how to spend limited taxpayers dollars and we continue to make investing in the education of Ontario's students our priority."
Total education funding will increase to a record $14.21 billion from $13.86 billion for the coming school year, a 2.5% increase from last year. This means that almost all boards will receive an increase in funding, even though more than half of them may see a drop in the number of students. This new investment in education considerably outpaces Ontario's economic growth over the past year.
In addition to $86 million for enrolment growth, the government's enhancements to the student-focused funding are targeted to the following priority areas:
During the upcoming 2002-03 school year, school boards will continue to have enhanced flexibility to determine local spending priorities. All boards will have the same or more flexible funding compared to last year.
In addition to the $14.21 billion announced today and the $25 million for a new Early Math Strategy and the expansion of the Early Reading Strategy, the government also recently announced $65 million in textbooks and learning resources for this school year to give students the tools they need to master the new, more rigorous curriculum. This means that, in the past three weeks, the government has announced a total of $440 million for public education.
"We are giving school boards more of the resources and tools they need to enhance learning opportunities for students," Witmer said. "Our government will continue to listen and invest in students, and will soon begin to review the funding formula to help ensure that Ontario's children receive the best education possible."
Dr. Mordechai Rozanski, president of the University of Guelph, will lead the Education Equality Task Force starting immediately. The task force will review the funding formula and report back by November 1 with recommendations on ways to improve fairness, certainty and stability for schools and students.
The government will also introduce three-year base funding for school boards and will work to develop a model for multi-year base funding that ensures improved accountability, accessibility and fairness. The government will also change its budget cycle, delivering budgets before the start of the fiscal year.
School boards will receive detailed information about their individual allocations in the next two weeks.
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