06/09/2026
The Ford government promised $750 a year for elementary teachers to buy supplies. It turns out it's not all new money |
Of the $750 yearly allotment to cover the cost of classroom supplies for each eligible elementary teacher under the Learning Resources Fund, $300 will come "from within the current funding allocation," according to a school board guide released by the province at the end of May.
The spending accounts, announced in March, are meant to avoid teachers paying out-of-pocket for crucial items such as art supplies, paper towels and pencils, using one, central online portal with better prices than they'd pay on their own. Union leaders say classroom supplies should already be provided to school boards.
Rene´ Jansen in de Wal, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association, worries about burdening teachers with the extra work of shopping for school supplies when they're already overstretched amid what he called an education budget shortfall driven by provincial investment that in recent years has often failed to keep up with inflation.
He recalled stories of teachers resorting to using copy paper from home and using complimentary pens from hotels.
"It's crazy that he's normalizing that teachers, who've been taking their time and money to subsidize (supplies) because of the cuts," Jansen in de Wal said, "should spend even more time to stock their classrooms."
Jansen in de Wal said this is another step toward American-style services.
"We all know that they do less by spending more and it hasn't helped them," he said of both the education and health-care systems in the U.S. "Those are two things that make us very different from the United States, and I'm proud of everything that public schools have done in Canada."
