A new report by the Ontario School Board Council of Unions and the Canadian Union of Public Employees suggests staffing levels in Ontario schools are in crisis.
For years, teachers' unions have fought to reduce class sizes and increase the number of education workers in the classroom. The report released this week is built on a series of reports released last year on understaffing in Ontario schools, in which 92.3 per cent of respondents to a survey said more staff was needed.
Increased staffing is a centrepiece of the CUPE-OSBCU bargaining proposals in this year's round of negotiations with the province.
The report, called "Understaffing of Education Workers in Ontario Schools - The Case for Dedicated Investment for More Staff to Support Students," says although student needs have increased, there are fewer educational assistants, designated early childhood educators, custodians, office staff, library technicians, professional staff, and tradesworkers employed by Ontario school boards.
There's been a 51 per cent increase in students diagnosed with autism, a 34 per cent increase in students with behavioural exceptionalities, and a 27 per cent increase in students with multiple exceptionalities. Despite that, fewer elementary students are enrolled in special education now than in 2018-19.
Declining enrollment is linked to long wait times to get assessments and insufficient staffing numbers to assess student needs and offer support.
The number of kindergarten classes without a dedicated early childhood educator increased from 13,983 to 19,240 last year.
A total of 30 school boards reduced their number of custodians. Seventy per cent of custodians surveyed said they sometimes can't complete all their daily tasks because there's too much work and too few custodians, and 41 per cent admit there are parts of their school that are not cleaned daily.
Likewise, secretarial and clerical staff have had more work downloaded onto them, and 95 per cent of school office staff say they can't complete all of their assigned duties in a day.
A startling 91 per cent of tradespersons employed by school boards also say work orders are sometimes delayed or go undone because there aren't enough staff to get the work done.
Professional staff include psychologists, speech and language pathologists, child and youth workers, and social workers.
The report notes 37.7 per cent of school boards cut psychological professionals, while 30.8 per cent cut child and youth workers.
The report doesn't offer recommendations beyond hiring more staff. It calls for dedicated funding for hiring, a commitment to putting a designated early childhood educator and educational assistant in every kindergarten class and a cap of 26 students in kindergarten.
"A substantial investment in education is needed, specifically an investment in more staff to meet student needs," said the report.
