NDP MPPs urge Ford to fund smaller, safer classes in Hamilton’s schools in light of more class collapsing

Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board is being forced to increase class sizes during the second wave of COVID-19

HAMILTON – NDP MPPs Andrea Horwath, Sandy Shaw, Monique Taylor and Paul Miller have issued a joint statement on the funding crisis facing the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board:

“For months, Hamilton parents, teachers and education workers have been pleading with the Ford government for smaller, safer classes. Now the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board is being forced by Doug Ford to increase class sizes just as COVID-19 is surging in the second wave. Hundreds of educators are being re-assigned in another ‘massive reorganization’ causing more disruption and anxiety when parents are already desperately worried about the safety of their kids.

Doug Ford and his education minister have refused to listen to parents, and now we are seeing the consequences of their decision to sit on the money that’s needed to keep kids, teachers and education workers safe. Pinching pennies is putting them in more danger, when we should be doing whatever it takes to protect them.

Doug Ford can fix this by providing the necessary funding that the school board trustees have requested. He’s sitting on $9 billion in COVID-19 support money, almost all of which was provided by the federal government to protect people from the second wave. Doug Ford has the power to ensure Hamilton’s students have safer and smaller classes, but is instead choosing to save money on the backs on Hamilton’s students.

The situation is urgent and lives are at risk. Doug Ford must act now before it’s too late.”