Underfunding, understaffing plague Trillium Lake District School Board: 88% of CUPE employees at TLDSB say staffing must increase to meet the needs of students, 78 percent say there is a violent incident at work at least once a month

LINDSAY, ON –(COMMUNITYWIRE)– Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) recently announced an $8 million surplus for the 2023-2024 school year, reporting that it was in a “good position to make positive impacts on student achievement and well-being,” yet workers say extreme underfunding and understaffing has created an unsafe learning environment plagued with violence for students and staff.

CUPE 997, which represents workers across all Trillium Lakelands schools, is calling on the school board to heavily invest in hiring more staff across the Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton County and Muskoka areas to combat the long-term understaffing, widespread burnout, job cuts and the decline in student experience and safety due to worsened student-to-worker ratios.

CUPE 997 represents over 800 members across 56 TLDSB schools who work as Educational Assistants, clerical staff, and maintenance, custodial and technical staff.

“The school board is boasting an $8 million surplus, but at what expense?” says William Campbell, President of CUPE 997. “Our staff are struggling with burnout and exhaustion and are afraid to come to work every day for fear of being hurt. With that in mind, why is the TLDSB not spending the funding it has received in order to keep our students and staff safe at school and work? While chronic underfunding by the Ford government leads to extreme understaffing, the TLDSB must spend the funding it does receive. It’s not fair to our students and it’s not fair to workers. Our students deserve to be able to learn in a safe environment.”

A survey conducted by CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU) revealed that more than three-quarters of TLDSB workers say there is a violent incident at least once a month at their workplace, and one-third of respondents say a violent incident occurs at their workplace every day. Over half of members say their workspace is evacuated at least once a month due to violent and disruptive behaviour.

Eighty-four percent of TLDSB workers who responded to the survey believe there must be an increase in staff to meet the needs of students to create a healthy, safe and manageable work environment and provide adequate supports to TLDSB students.

“Our schools face serious challenges today,” says Joe Tigani, President of OSBCU. “Incidents of violence and injuries affecting staff are increasing, highlighting a critical issue: lack of adequate funding in Ontario’s education system. Every worker deserves a safe environment. Educators and school staff should be able to come to work without fear of violence or injury, and students deserve safe learning environments, free from exposure to violence. Schools should be spaces where students feel secure and supported.”

According to the union, the TLDSB has consistently received less funding by the Ford government year over year, with real-pupil funding (adjusted for inflation and enrolment growth) cut by $1569 between 2012 and 2025 per student. Had this funding kept up with inflation, the school board would have received an additional $27.3 million from the Ford government in the 2024-2025 school year alone and could have hired an additional 365 full-time education workers.

The Ontario School Board Council of Unions (OSBCU) unites 57,000 CUPE education workers in the public, Catholic, English, and French school systems across the province.

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For more information, contact:

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