As Ontario students return to class this week, former teachers and parents of children with special needs say they are worried about whether schools will have enough supports to keep their children safe.
Dozens of Ontario residents contacted CTV News last week with concerns about this school year as teachers and education workers return without new collective agreements.
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While a strike is not inevitable, the possibility of job action is a looming reality that still remains on the table.
For some families, the state of special education in Ontario is their biggest concern.
‘Not safe for the kids’
Mary Weiss, who retired in June after 40 years teaching students with special needs in Toronto, said safety is her biggest worry.
“They’re short-staffed, and the staff in a lot of respects do not understand the needs of the kids,” she said in an interview.
In recent years, Weiss said she has witnessed children with autism being locked in rooms and “manhandled” because their needs were not understood by those in charge.
“You just can’t have a body” filling a support position, she said, arguing “It’s not like being in a regular high school.” She said staff need specialized training to work with students who have complex needs.
“It’s got to the point where it’s not safe for the kids and it’s not safe for the staff,” she noted.
Weiss explained students need access to specialized professionals, including occupational and physical therapists, speech and language services and psychological assessments.
Last year alone, she said she spent more than $2,000 of her own money to provide “engaging programming” for students she taught who were developmentally delayed, autistic or considered high needs.
“The board supplies are limited, and what they’re offering now from Staples...it’s not getting to the point,” she said. “You need to have the proper resources that are available for the special needs of the kids, and therefore they’re specialized resources that cost a fortune.”
Parents say they are fighting for support
Antonette Bailey, whose eight-year-old daughter has special needs, said her child requires additional support to attend classes, remain in the classroom and participate fully.
“Our children only get one childhood, and teachers only get so many resources to do an increasingly difficult job,” Bailey said.
She said parents are increasingly being forced to advocate for their children themselves.
“I don’t think parents should have to become full-time investigators and negotiators in order to have their child access education,” she said.
Bailey is calling for more transparency around special-education funding, including how many educational assistants are funded and how many positions remain vacant.
“When I hear the talks about the government investing in this record-breaking education, the first thing I want to know is: I want to start seeing some data,” she said.
The province, for its part, says it has increased education funding every year since 2018, reaching $30.6 billion in 2026-27.
In an email to CTV News, Education Minister Paul Calandra’s office said that includes a 35 per cent increase in special-education funding and the hiring of more than 11,500 additional education staff, including more than 4,500 educational assistants (since 2018).
“Staffing decisions are made by local school boards based on enrolment and local needs,” the ministry said.
A long-standing concern
This isn’t the first time concern has been raised about Ontario’s state of special education.
Earlier this year, a report from Ontario’s auditor general found students with special education needs at three audited school boards faced inconsistent supports and long waits for assistance.
Among other things, some students with special needs were sometimes “excluded” from school without formal tracking, documentation or rationale.
“Principals have a duty to refuse entry to a person whose presence, in their judgment, would be detrimental to students physical or mental well-being,” the report noted.
According to the findings, the auditor says just 21 per cent of teachers surveyed felt they were able to meet most needs of special education students in their class.
87 per cent believed they rarely or never had the necessary resources to support individual education plans.
At the time, Calandra called some of the findings “troubling” and said “more needs to be done” to help special education.
Looking at previous years, the auditor also found that special education funding from the province increased 15 per cent between 2019-20 and 2023-24, while total school board spending increased by 19 per cent.
Where do things stand?
The collective agreements for Ontario’s major teachers’ and education workers’ unions expired last week on Aug. 31.
Negotiations remain stalled for most unions over which issues should be negotiated centrally with the province and which should be left to local school boards. Some unions have taken the dispute to the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
Speaking to CTV News previously, OECTA president René Jansen in de Wal said a strike is possible, but not imminent.
“Even if we go to a strike vote, a strike vote is not a strike,” he said, adding that the union remains committed to reaching a deal.
He said teachers “love being in classes” but warned that continued underfunding and staffing pressures could push educators toward job action.
For parents like Bailey, the focus sits on making sure students receive the support they need.
“We’re having the same education crisis year after year in the kids with special needs,” she said. “We want parents across Ontario to have a voice.”
With files from CP24’s Joshua Freeman
