(Canada) Orillia, Ont: Special education is main reason for $5M (US) school debt
- The end of childhood
- Nov 8
- 5 min read
Nov 3, 2025, Orillia Matters: Budget crunch could mean a return to special education classrooms
'There’s always apprehension. The (board) doesn’t get the money they need. It’s a big injustice,' says Catholic teachers association official
Special education is the main pinch-point in this year’s $7.1-million budget deficit at the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board.
The school board received the results of a review of its special education model – which came before trustees at their Oct. 22 meeting – to see if it’s financially sustainable to continue on their inclusion-model path that sees students with special needs integrated into traditional classrooms whenever possible.
The review suggests bringing back special education classrooms and education assistant ratios of one educator per three special-needs students, in a move consultant Optimus SBR claims will save the board $2.5 million annually to help pull them out of their deficit.
Currently, the board works with a one-to-one ratio of education assistants to students with special needs, while incorporating those students into regular classrooms.
“Engagement with over 1,000 stakeholders from across the board identified both a need and appetite to evolve SMCDSB’s special education services to better meet the needs and complexity of today’s students and improve staff experiences,” notes the report’s conclusion. “At the same time, SMCDSB’s special education program is financially unsustainable – a reality that poses risks to the board if left unaddressed.”
According to the report’s findings, the demand for special education services at the SMCDSB has significantly increased over the past five years.
Since 2020, there has been a 58-per-cent rise at the board in students requiring high levels of educational assistant (EA) support. The report includes comparisons to the provincial average, noting 11.6 per cent of students with autism compared to the 7.9-per-cent provincial numbers, while 5.7 per cent present with behavioural needs compared to the three per cent provincial average.
The review found that while the SMCDSB uses an inclusive model for special education, that model is applied inconsistently across the board, with some schools incorporating different classroom types to meet the needs of students and staff.
According to provincial legislation, special education class sizes can range between six and 25 students.
As the board has struggled in the past with hiring EAs, the report notes that shifting to such a blended service delivery model would not automatically cause job losses since many open positions are often left unfilled.
The report also calls on the board to collect better data on its special education portfolio, including development of special needs profiles for high-need student groups.
Part of the report cautions the board on the impact of continuing on the path they’re currently on with special education.
“Special education staff are at risk of burning out and have expressed a need for more support and training from the board to ensure they deliver optimal learning experiences,” notes the report’s gap analysis.
That was confirmed by Kent MacDonald, president of the Simcoe Muskoka branch of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA) representing elementary teachers.
“The role has significantly changed. There are a lot of fires to be put out. Many members are saying, this is not the job they had before,” said MacDonald. “The funding is not adequate. Right now, it’s not a good situation.”
“In a classroom, there might be three to seven students with varying needs, and teachers are wondering how they meet all those needs. It’s overwhelming. It is kind of like the wild west sometimes,” he said.
While MacDonald is optimistic about the recommendations in the report, he said whether it will work or not will come down to how they’re implemented.
For example, he points to the recommendation to add 16 special education classrooms for students with the highest needs.
“Are they going to be asking students from nearby schools to be transported to these specialized classrooms? Years ago that would have been an option, but that would be the only option provided and we’re not in that day and age of education anymore,” said MacDonald. “Will regular classrooms have less support?”
Overall, MacDonald says change is necessary at this point.
“There’s always apprehension,” he said. “The (board) doesn’t get the money they need. It’s a big injustice.”
Allyn Janicki, president of the Simcoe Muskoka branch of OECTA representing secondary teachers, said chronic underfunding of the education sector by the provincial government had led to boards having nowhere else to turn when funding comes up short.
“This trickles down to what happens in schools, which are tasked with doing more with less,” she said. “Our secondary schools work very hard to provide appropriate programming for all students, however the ability to provide diverse programs and fulsome supports based on individual student learning needs is again impeded.”
On July 8, the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board announced it was dealing with an in-year $7.1 million deficit through its budget. The board approved a $375 million operating budget for 2025/26 at a board meeting that week.
The entire deficit this year at the board in special education was $10 million, however the board was able to whittle that down to the $7.1 million figure they now face by pulling from other areas.
The SMCDSB oversees 52 schools, approximately 24,000 students and 3,000 employees. Over the past four years, there has been a 37-per-cent increase in the number of students with attendant care and safety needs at schools within the board, communications manager with the board Pauline Stevenson shared in a previous interview.
According to board staff, 71 out of 72 school boards across Ontario are running deficits in special education this year, and multiple sources confirm there’s a shortfall between what the Ministry of Education is doling out to boards for special education, and the actual costs of supporting Ontario students with special needs.
In 2021, the SMCDSB employed 361 educational assistants, with that number creeping up year over year due to the increased need. In the 2024/25 school year, that number jumped to 444. In 2025/26, the board is projecting a need for 525 educational assistants.
The ministry of education doesn’t dictate to school boards how they run special education within their boards, so models for special education can vary from board to board.
OSSTF District 17 bargaining unit president Rita Golds-Nikolic, representing education assistants at the SMCDSB, did not return multiple requests for comment for this story.
However OPSEU Local 330 president Kelly Martin, who represents EAs at the Simcoe County District School Board, said in an interview she regularly sees students transferred out of the Simcoe County Catholic board into the public one, because the Catholic board’s current model sometimes isn’t equipped to deal with certain specialized needs. The SCDSB offers special education classrooms for students with high needs.
“When they can't support the students, in reality, they end up coming to the public board,” said Martin.
But Martin says the issues facing the SMCDSB right now are being faced by all school board across Ontario, with education assistants caught in the cross hairs.
“The boards are just trying to pull from here to cover there,” she said. “The burnout is real. (EAs) are overworked and there's just not enough of them.
The special education review is expected to be presented to the board’s special education advisory committee at a public meeting on Nov. 5. Chair of the committee Carmela Diano declined to comment for this story in advance of that meeting.
Following the trustee board meeting on Oct. 22, chair of the board and Barrie trustee Maria Hardie confirmed that no decisions have yet been made on implementation plans, which she said will now be prepared by board staff in a thoughtful way.
“The trustees were pleased to receive the report and recommendations and look forward to seeing our board move forward in a purposeful and positive direction,” she said in an email.
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