News

$315 Million for Nipissing Schools for the 2021-22 Year

Record-level Support for Mental Health and Learning Recovery Included as Part of a Historic Investment in 2021-22 School Year

NIPISSING – Vic Fedeli, MPP for Nipissing announced that the government of Ontario will support local students by providing Nipissing’s four local school boards with a combined total of over $300 million for the 2021-22 school year through the Grants for Student Needs (GSN) program– an increase of $7,080,000 over last year. In addition, the Boards will receive a combined total of $15 million for COVID-19 Supports.

“Today’s announcement is terrific news for students and hard-working Nipissing families,” said MPP Vic Fedeli. “Our government is committed to advancing student success, and we are delivering significant resources here in our area and across the province to help young people reach their full potential.”

This week, the Ontario government announced new support for a safe and successful 2021-22 school year, including an additional $1.6 billion in resources to protect against COVID-19 and $561 million more in ongoing investments in public education for the 2021-22 school year through the GSN. Total GSN funding is projected to be $25.6 billion. This reflects the third straight year it has increased under the current government, and on a per-student basis is estimated to rise to $12,686, which is the highest amount ever.

The Ontario government is supporting learning recovery and renewal by investing an additional $85.5 million to help students across the province address the effects of learning disruptions as a result of COVID-19. Investments will support reading and math for young learners, student re-engagement, and mental health and well-being supports. These learning recovery and renewal measures will include partnering with School Mental Health Ontario to support educators and enable timely interventions; additional teaching resources including math leads and coaches; and summer learning and special education supports, among other initiatives. These steps will position Ontario as a leading jurisdiction in unveiling a suite of learning recovery initiatives in advance of the next school year.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government has made unprecedented investments to support student mental health, including over $80 million projected in 2021-22, which is more than four times the investments made in 2017-18. For the 2021-22 school year, Ontario will also be providing school boards with $3.2 billion to support students with special education needs through the GSN – the highest investment recorded in Ontario.

Local school board GSN allocations for the 2021-22 school year include the following:

Near North District School Board – projected to receive $144.8 million in funding, an increase of $3.0 million over last year, including:

• $1 million in special education funding, a $520,000 increase over last year.
• $1 million in funding for transportation, a $280,000 increase over last year.
• $3 million in funding for Indigenous education, a $47,000 increase over last year.

Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board – is projected to receive $46.6 million in funding, an increase of $480,000 over last year, including:

• $4 million in special education funding, a $170,000 increase over last year.
• $7 million in funding for transportation, a $19,000 increase over last year.
• $630,000 in funding for Indigenous education, with $64,000 transferred into the Program Leadership Grant.

Conseil scolaire public du Nord-Est de l’Ontario – is projected to receive $53.0 million in funding, an increase of $2.3 million over last year, including:

• $1 million in special education funding, a $350,000 increase over last year.
• $3 million in funding for transportation, a $110,000 increase over last year.
• $110,000 in funding for Indigenous education, with $70,000 transferred into the Program Leadership Grant

Conseil scolaire catholique Franco-Nord – is projected to receive $56.8 million in funding, an increase of $1.3 million over last year, including:

• $3 million in special education funding, a $270,000 increase over last year.
• $9 million in funding for transportation, a $110,000 million increase over last year.
• $210,000 in funding for Indigenous education, with $70,000 transferred into the Program Leadership Grant.

In order to support a safe return to classroom learning in September, Ontario is investing $1.6 billion in targeted COVID-19 resources that will be used for expenses such as enhanced cleaning protocols, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and critical supplies and equipment, and temporary staffing supports. The four local school boards in our area will receive the following funding to keep Nipissing students, school staff and their families safe from COVID-19:

• Near North District School Board – $6.5 million
• Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board – $2.7 million
• Conseil scolaire public du Nord-Est de l’Ontario – $2.7 million
• Conseil scolaire catholique Franco-Nord – $2.9 million

QUICK FACTS

• COVID-19 resources will provide school boards with $1.6 billion for a wide range of supports, such as additional staffing to support remote learning and social distancing through smaller class sizes and support for remote learning technology, including improvements to connectivity within school buildings.
• School boards have been instructed to not require parental decision on in-person or remote learning before June 1, 2021, at the earliest.
• Resources will also be available to support health and safety measures, including personal protective equipment (PPE) and cleaning supplies for school boards; enhanced cleaning protocols of schools and school busses; and additional staffing to support cleaning.
• The 2021-22 COVID-19 supports do not include any federal government investments.
• The Ministry of Education provides operating funding to Ontario’s 72 district school boards and 10 school authorities through the annual GSN education funding model. Funding to school boards is provided on a combination of per-student, per-school, and per-board basis.
• In addition to Ontario’s annual investment of approximately $1.4 billion to support the repair and renewal of schools and $550 million for new schools, additions and major renovations, school boards will have access to $656 million in combined federal-provincial funding. This funding is being provided to school boards under the COVID-19 Resilience Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.
• The government also allocated $100 million to school boards during the 2020-21 school year to support immediate measures to optimize air quality and ventilation in schools, which helped ensure over 95 per cent of school boards reported improvements this school year.
• Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Ontario government has stepped up to provide Ontario families with $1.8 billion in direct financial support. The latest round is $980 million in direct support as part of the Ontario COVID-19 Child Benefit, where payments will be doubled to $400 per child and $500 for a child with special needs to help offset additional learning costs. Applications are now being accepted until May 17, 2021.