Trustees for the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) approved the operating budget for the 2023-2024 school year on Thursday night.
The $3.4 billion spending plan will see 99 positions re-added back to the TDSB’s payroll, including social workers, youth counsellors, and school-based safety monitors. Those positions were slashed after the province’s COVID-19 Learning Recovery Funding came to an end.
“As Trustees, we have advocated tirelessly this year for the resources and supports required to meet the unique needs of the students of Toronto,” TDSB Chair Rachel Chernos Lin said in a news release announcing the passed budget.
“Looking ahead, we will continue this important work until the funding provided by the provincial government reflects the actual cost of supporting the academic success, well-being and safety of our students,” she said.
The TDSB said next year’s budget is in line with its own 3-year deficit recovery plan, as required by the Ministry of Education, and will see the board back in the black by the 2024-2025 school year.
Next year’s budget is not without cuts and sees a number of “cost saving measures” identified in central staffing and department spending.
As well, the board said it is requesting permission to use the money received upon the sale of TDSB property to offset the operating costs connected to the province’s moratorium on school closures.
Since 2017, boards in the province are not allowed to close or merge schools with low enrolment. Earlier this year, the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association called on the Ministry of Education to scrap the measure.
