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Province Spending More Money To Support Students

Dryden, ON, Canada / CKDR
Jun 19, 2020 | 8:49 AM


Province Spending More Money To Support Students

The Ford government is spending $10-million to put more mental health workers in Ontario schools.

Sam Oosterhoff is the Parliamentary Assistant to Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce and says the money is in addition to a previous commitment of $25-million to hire roughly 180 front-line mental health workers in high schools across the province.

“Some of that is up to the individual school board as to how many people they are able to hire with the funding they have been allocated but we believe it’s important that we see that spread out equitably across the province.”

Oosterhoff says “We have seen the COVID-19 outbreak has impacted student mental health and well-being and we believe it’s important to ensure we have wrap-around critical front-line services to help those Ontario students who need it the most.”

The Niagara West MPP believes the investment in mental health will help reduce wait times at health care facilities across Ontario.

The province is also spending $15-million to purchase 35,000 classroom computers.

The government has already pledged internet connectivity at all schools in Ontario, including all high schools by September 2020 and all elementary schools by September 2021.

Friday the government announced that it is investing $736 million more in public education for the 2020-21 school year, increasing the total to more than $25.5 billion. This funding, through the Grants for Student Needs (GSN) program, represents the largest investment in public education in Ontario’s history. As a result, Ontario’s average per-pupil funding amount has reached $12,525, which is an increase of $250 over the previous year.

Oosterhoff says “We just to make ensure that everyone knows we’re working diligently with school boards, educators and with families to make sure our students are able to thrive and succeed as we open schools this fall.”