‘A drop in the bucket’: Local ETFO President on Ford’s $750 supply cards

Premier Ford announced supply card's for every teacher, so they can purchase their own classroom supplies when needed such as stationary and tissues.

The local president of the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) says he’s happy to see the provincial government admitting that teachers need more funding, but is concerned with the way it’s laid out.

Mario Spagnuolo is reacting to the announcement made by Premier Doug Ford on Wednesday where Ontario elementary school teachers will be getting $750 purchasing cards starting in the next school year for classroom supplies, costing a total of $66-million.

Ford stated Wednesday that “the days of teachers having to put their hands in their own pockets to pay for school supplies are done.”

Spagnuolo says this is admittance that the education system is underfunded, and it’s a good first step, but says it doesn’t make up for the $6.3-billion in cuts to education since 2018 from the Ford government.

Spagnuolo adds that arts and crafts materials, stationery and paper products, paper towels and tissues, are basic necessities that the province should fund without making an announcement of it.

He says this is a drop in the bucket to what is needed.

“...They’re far from fixing the problem that they’ve created. This is one way that the government continuously tries to distract the public to say we’re taking away $6.3-billion from public education, but then we’re going to give $750 to classroom teachers... they don’t add up.”

According to Spagnuolo, the unions have been asking for help, but receive funding for things they didn’t ask for.

“The fact is we have special education programs that have been eliminated, we have textbooks that are hard to find if you can find any, and we have students with high special needs in our homerooms that are going without the support staff that they need. This $750 is not going to do anything for those kids that need the help.”

Spagnuolo said he hopes the public doesn’t buy into this gimmick.

“It shouldn’t be for a teacher to purchase Kleenex and toilet paper, that is absolutely absurd. That’s like expecting a nurse to buy bandages and patient meals at a hospital. And that’s what this government expects teachers to do. They obviously have not consulted with frontline educators on how the system works.”

Spagnuolo says it’s convenient that the Ford government made that announcement Wednesday, as students around the province continue to protest against OSAP cuts.

The province is setting up a website where homeroom teachers can make their purchases of supplies. Those materials will come at a “reasonable cost” according to the province, due to bulk purchasing power.