Optional distance learning for the entire 2021-22 school year and $2 billion in new aid to Ontario school boards. This is the announcement by the Minister of Education Stephen Lecce.

It’s unclear how many students will opt for distance learning in September, but during a briefing to outline plans for the 2021-22 school year, the province confirmed that all providers must submit it as an option.  Some school boards – such as the Durham District School Board and the Waterloo Region District School Board – have already told parents the possibility for their children to take online classes, while others have gone further by forcing parents to inform them now about the choice between in-presence or virtual lessons starting in September.

Not a word was spoken by Lecce about the possibility of a return to the classrooms before the summer holidays. Earlier this week, the Toronto District School Board confirmed that all summer course classes will only be remote this summer. “While students are following lessons from home our province continues to face the Covid-19 pandemic. Although we all want classroom learning to resume this spring, we don’t want to take any risks with your children as we are faced with high rates of Covid-19 in the community, overwhelmed intensive care units and variants that seamlessly entering from our porous international borders – minister Lecce said – but I want to assure parents that we will continue to work with and seek the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health on the way forward. The arrival of vaccines means that there is hope on the horizon”.

During yesterday’s briefing, officials also provided a breakdown of the funding that school boards can expect to receive next year, including what the province has described as $2 billion in new aid. The province says it plans to provide school boards with more than $80 million in direct funding for students’ mental health over the next school year.

The funds will be used to hire other mental health professionals, provide professional training to educators, and collaborate with community mental health providers for students in need of more intensive supports.

In addition to funding to improve mental health resources, the province has promised to make $85.5 million available to support the “recovery and resumption of learning” by addressing the impact of study interruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The education minister said that, as it did for the 2021-22 school year, the government will provide the school boards with “another year of temporary support for Covid-19”, for a total of about $1.6 billion. That includes up to $450 million for personal protective equipment, $86 million for public health nurses and asymptomatic testing, $65 million for transportation, and $15 million for technology.

“New or enhanced provisions” in funding allocation include $29.4 million for higher operating costs, such as those related to ventilation systems and filter replacement, $383.6 million for staffing “with the flexibility to meet local needs” and $40 million over two years to address connectivity for remote learning technology.