“Ontario’s school boards are in severe crisis”: Survey of 12,000 CUPE education workers finds extreme underfunding and understaffing has caused widespread violence, burnout and lack of supports for students in Niagara area schools

NIAGARA, ON –(COMMUNITYWIRE)– A recent survey of Ontario education workers including Educational Assistants, Early Childhood Educators, Child and Youth workers, custodians, maintenance and trades workers, and school secretaries represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU) shows that a severe crisis in underfunding has led to extreme understaffing, students’ needs going unmet, and increased violence in the District School Board of Niagara and the Niagara Catholic District School Board.

The CUPE-OSBCU survey included over 12,000 respondents from across Ontario, with over 700 from Niagara-area school boards. The survey points to a crisis of understaffing in all classifications, causing insufficient supports for students and staff in schools and the Niagara community. School offices are overburdened by increasing demands, school cleaning suffers, and repairs are delayed or go undone.

Read the full CUPE-OSBCU Services Survey report for the Niagara area.

CUPE locals 4156 and 1317 represent over 3500 members, including Educational Assistants, Child and Youth Workers, Registered Early Childhood Educators, secretarial staff, IT, custodial, maintenance and trades workers, student supervisors and other educational workers.

This school year alone, the District School Board of Niagara has faced a minimum of a $47 million cut to real per-pupil funding, and the Niagara Catholic School Board has faced a real per-pupil cut of over $23 million.

Many education workers at these school boards say they frequently face violent incidents at their workplace, with over 54 percent of Educational Assistants and Child and Youth Workers experiencing a violent incident every day.

This severe underfunding leaves students and workers at risk because there are too few staff in schools. It also means students have their learning environments disrupted on a regular basis, creating an environment that is far from conducive to having the highest quality of education.

CUPE education workers across the province are calling on the Ford government to immediately increase school board funding, adequately staff school boards so that education workers can do their jobs with dignity and respect and address the crisis of violence across Ontario school boards.

The OSBCU represents more than 57,000 education workers in Ontario.

Quotes: 

Joe Tigani, President of OSBCU:
It is abundantly clear that the education system in Ontario is at a breaking point. For years, the Conservative government has continued to cut billions of dollars in funding to the education sector, causing extreme understaffing, increased violence against staff and students, and our students’ needs being neglected. There is no question that the Ford government has abandoned the education sector. The Ontario government must increase its investment in students and education workers and address this situation immediately. Students deserve better, parents deserve better, and our education workers deserve better.

Lisa Sherren, Member of CUPE 4156 and Education Assistant: 
I’ve worked as an Educational Assistant for over 25 years with the District School Board of Niagara. I work with many high-needs students, particularly those with autism, and unfortunately these students are receiving the absolute bare minimum in terms of support services because we are so consistently understaffed. We frequently deal with workplace violence and many staff members have been injured on the job. Because there is so little support for students, they often act out violently, which disrupts learning for both the affected students and their peers. Staff are also not provided with enough training on how to handle these situations, or on how to deal with and process traumatic incidents. It is completely unfair for students and education workers, and it’s only getting worse. We need to immediately hire many more one-on-one education workers to provide the appropriate supports these students need and deserve.

Sandi Unwin, President of CUPE 4156: 
I represent over 2600 education workers throughout the District School Board of Niagara. There is a massive understaffing crisis in our school board. Our members are experiencing extreme burnout and are facing physical violence due to the lack of support and resources students receive. Our members say that it’s not a matter of ‘if I’m going to get hit,’ it’s a matter of ‘when I’m going to get hit’. The crisis in understaffing has led to increased workload on remaining staff, who now must split their time among multiple classrooms because their colleagues are not replaced when they are away. Our front-line workers care deeply about the students they work with, but they cannot continue to work under these conditions. We need an immediate increase in staffing levels in all job classifications across the District School Board of Niagara. Our members and students depend on it.

Anna Maxner, President of 1317: 
I represent over 1000 CUPE education workers at the Niagara Catholic District School Board. In recent years, we have witnessed devastating cuts in government funding. These cuts have led to extreme understaffing and increased workloads that our members simply cannot bear.  Stretched thin each day, they face the daunting challenge of juggling multiple roles without the backing they need. The call for increased funding for our school boards is not just a matter of budgets — it is a matter of safety, support, and the well-being of our students and staff. It affects not only our schools, but also our communities. We are not just education workers; we are caregivers, counselors, and protectors. It is time to demand what children deserve — adequate funding for our schools, a call for increased funding for school boards and for the resources our students and staff need to thrive. Together, we can create a safer, more supportive educational environment.

Numbers at a Glance:   

• The District School Board of Niagara has faced a minimum of a $47.84 million cut to real per-pupil funding in 2024-25 and Niagara Catholic District School Board has faced a real per-pupil cut of $23.82 million.
• 62 percent of members say they do unpaid work for the school boards, effectively subsidizing schools to make up for the lack of funding. Extrapolating the amount of unpaid work reported to the entire membership of these locals, an equivalent of 91.7 Full-Time Equivalent jobs worth of unpaid work are done by CUPE members.
• 86 percent of respondents say they feel stress due to an excessive workload.
• 75 percent of all respondents say they experience violent or disruptive incidents in their work area. 97 percent Educational Assistants or Child and Youth Workers experience violent or disruptive incidents in their workplace, 54 percent say it happens every day.
• 70 percent of Educational Assistants or Child and Youth Workers have their work areas (i.e. classrooms) evacuated at least sometimes, 10 percent say it happens every day.
• 77 percent of respondents say there are not enough people employed in their own job classification at the school board or in their school. 82 percent of respondents said that services for students, staff, or the school community would be improved with more staff in their classification.

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For more information, contact:  

Shannon Carranco, CUPE Communications 
scarranco@cupe.ca
514-703-8358