FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 4, 2025
QUEEN’S PARK — John Fraser, MPP for Ottawa South and Ontario Liberal critic for education is calling on the Ford government to immediately invest $1 billion into Ontario’s schools to hire 10,000 support staff and give our students and our schools the support they urgently need.
The Ontario Liberals are proposing to commit $1 billion to bolster the existing Classroom Staffing Fund and the Learning Resources Fund, allowing school boards to hire at least 10,000 much-needed support staff across the province on an as-needed basis.
Yesterday’s EQAO scores revealed what was already painfully obvious for everyone but Paul Calandra: our schools are in dire need of more adults in the classrooms. Since coming to power, Doug Ford has left our schools in a sad state by cutting more than 3,400 teachers and 1,500 education staff.
More qualified adults in the classroom means better educational outcomes, safer schools and setting our children up for success for the rest of their lives. Too many education workers have been driven out because schools aren’t safe places to work.
“Our schools are not safe places to learn or work.” said John Fraser. “For almost 8 years under this government, classrooms have grown, special education has been starved, and we have a mental health crisis in our schools that is being ignored. We don’t need a 2-person panel to solve the problem that they created. We just need more qualified adults in our schools.”
Minister Calandra said that he considers the EQAO result a failure. It’s all on them.
“The crisis in our schools is especially severe in our French language schools, which face rapid enrolment growth, chronic underfunding, major recruitment challenges, and a shortage of trained support staff.” said Lucille Collard, Ontario Liberal critic for French-language education.
Ontario’s kids deserve better. The Ontario Liberals are ready to deliver it.