(Ontario) 71 out of 72 school boards...are running deficits in special education this year

July 24, 2025, Bradford (Ont) Today: Catholic board cutting 23 full-time positions as it wrestles with $7M deficit [$5M U.S.] 

https://www.bradfordtoday.ca/local-news/catholic-board-cutting-23-full-time-positions-as-it-wrestles-with-7m-deficit-10974427 

Board notes special education is main pinch-point in this year’s budget deficit; ‘We've been seeing this coming. This has been an ongoing issue,’ says official

The Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board (SMCDSB) says it will be slashing 23 full-time jobs to make up for the $7.1-million [$5.2M U.S.] deficit they’re facing right now, primarily due to a shortfall in special education funding.

But the issue isn’t one they created, they say, with special education deficits rolling in from schools boards across the province.

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.

“Other boards are pulling from other areas to subsidize their special education programming. That’s what we’ve been doing for years,” Pauline Stevenson, communications manager with the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, said in an interview.

“We’ve always pulled from other program areas to top up. We just can’t do it anymore. The gap is too great," she added. 

And with about 40 per cent of school boards across the province reporting overall deficits last year, the SMCDSB isn’t alone. . . .

The SMCDSB oversees 53 schools, approximately 24,000 students and 4,800 employees.

Over the past four years, Stevenson said there has been a 37-per-cent increase in the number of students with attendant care and safety needs at schools within the board.

“It’s significant,” she said. . . .

On July 8, the SMCDSB announced they were dealing with an in-year $7.1-million deficit through their budget, citing the key factor in the shortfall as rising special education costs. The board approved their $375-million operating budget for 2025-26 at a board meeting that week.

In consultation with the Ministry of Education, the board also announced they had developed a multi-year recovery plan to address the shortfall this year, and a deficit expected for the 2025-26 school year. It includes slashing costs over the next four years, including cuts of $2.45 million in 2024-25, $1.37 million in 2025-26, $1.82 million in 2026-27, and $1.46 million in 2027-28.

To make it work, the board will be cutting 23 full-time jobs over the next three years. The entire deficit this year at the board in special education was $10 million, however the board was able to whittle that down through pulling from other areas to the $7.1-million figure it now faces.

The board is currently waiting on ministry approval of that plan. . . .

The majority of funding for school boards is provided by the provincial government through core education funding, where Ontario school boards are given a certain amount of funding per student annually.

The province does not write a cheque for school boards to use however they wish. Instead, that funding is provided in figurative envelopes — where certain funding must be allocated to certain purposes. The province provides a separate amount in a special education envelope to school boards on top of the core education funding.

Almost all of special education funding from the province goes to pay educational assistants (EAs) to provide in-classroom support.

Stevenson shared with Village Media that the ministry of education provided the board with $38 million [$28M U.S.] in special education funding in 2023-24, $44 million [$32M U.S.] in 2024-25, and has promised to provide $47 million [$34M U.S.] in 2025-26.

However, Stevenson said the board is projected to spend $56 million [$41M U.S.] on the portfolio next year.

“We’re budgeting for that, because it’s more realistic,” she said.

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.

Stevenson said the number of students within the board in junior kindergarten to Grade 1 who require an EA has increased by 100 per cent over the past five years – from 58 students in 2020-21, to 119 in 2024-25.

“The prevalence of students with autism spectrum disorder is atypically higher in this region, than it is in the rest of the province,” said Stevenson.

Tanya Jewell, education advocate with Autism Ontario, said the organization doesn’t have data that outlines prevalence by Ontario region, however the trend of students with autism having higher or more complex needs is one noted provincewide.

“There's a variety of reason,” she said in an interview. “Part of it is, we're getting better recognizing those needs instead of just suppressing them and ignoring them. I also think students are under a lot of stress right now. We're still just beginning to understand the impact of the pandemic and what that’s done. There’s complexity.” . . .

Jewell also points to shortfalls in funding for autism supports generally, which is also a provincial responsibility, and how a lack of supports outside of school can also contribute to the issue overall.

“If students are supported in the community, and they're getting the interventions and they're getting the supports that they need and their families need, how they show up to school is very different,” said Jewell.

When contacted for comment for this story, a representative for Education Minister Paul Calandra would only confirm that the ministry had received the SMCDSB’s multi-year recovery plan and was closely monitoring the situation.

The ministry did not respond to queries regarding the SMCDSB’s case specifically, and how the ministry plans to address the growing special education needs many Ontario school boards are facing.

They also did not respond to a question asking how the ministry generally is working with school boards that are coming to them with a deficit this year.

Maria Hardie, chair of trustees of the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, declined an interview request for this story, instead sending a statement by email.

“I understand the community’s concern — we all want what’s best for our students,” Hardie wrote.