#OntEd Daily Brief for Monday, December 11
Ontario Ombudsman opens investigation into Ministry's direct payments to parents, and overcrowded classrooms continue to challenge school boards. A collection of the latest #OntEd news and updates.
Good evening,
Today the Ontario Ombudsman announced that he would be opening an investigation into the Ministry of Education’s direct payments to parents after complaints to the Ombudsman office about a lack of fairness and transparency with the payments.
The payments were intended to support families and students, but education advocates have criticized the payments as being a distraction from the government’s chronic underfunding of the public education system.
Global News - Ontario ombudsman to investigate education payments to parents
Toronto Star/Canadian Press - Ontario ombudsman to probe Ministry of Education payments to students, parents
“The direct payments investigation is going to include several policies: Support for Parents, the Ontario COVID-19 Child Benefit and Catch Up Payments. The policies were offered from early 2020 onwards, the ombudsman said. ‘The programs sparked complaints from parents who were denied payments for the children in their custody because someone else had claimed the money first,’ the ombudsman said.” - Global News
Overcrowded Classrooms Continue to Challenge School Boards
In other news, Stoney Creek parents and the local board trustee are speaking out as a local elementary school is well over capacity and there is no clear solution moving forward.
Other boards have called on support from the provincial government to address overcrowded classrooms that impact student learning, and the Barrie school board recently noted that it is “competing against every board in the province for the limited amount of capital funding that is available.”
CHCH - Parents raise concerns of overcrowding at Stoney Creek elementary school
BarrieToday - Time ticking down on aging elementary school in south Barrie
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