Notes On School Board & Teacher Job Cuts
@dkmathstats
Posted 13h ago · 4 min read
Hi there. In this education post, I post my thoughts on teacher job cuts from the school board.
Motivation Behind This Post + Toronto School Board Cut 600 Teaching Jobs
According to the Toronto today website (and many other sites), the Toronto District School Board is planning to cut 484 elementary teacher jobs and about 123 secondary/high-school teacher roles.
The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is planning to shed about 607 teacher roles next fall.
In recent days, the board shared its 2026-2027 staffing allocation plan with its elementary and secondary school teachers’ unions. TorontoToday obtained a copy of the plans, which Elementary Teachers of Toronto (ETT) and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) Toronto confirmed is accurate.
The plan shows a loss of about five per cent of the board’s elementary teacher workforce, totalling about 484 jobs compared to the number of teaching roles allocated in last year’s plan.
The board’s secondary school workforce could also shrink by about three per cent, equating to around 123 jobs relative to the staffing allocation planned for 2025-2026.
This news sort of affects my after-school private educational services work. I do expect an increase of demand for tutoring services in all subjects including mathematics.
Some angry redditors speculate that our Ontario provincial Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford (brother of the late Rob Ford) hates education and wants to ruin it. Further speculation includes that a worse educational system leads to more uneducated and uninformed population that can be easier to manipulate and control.
Possibly Larger Class Sizes
Education cuts can possibly lead to larger class sizes. Less funding can lead to less teachers resulting in teachers taking on more students.
Large class sizes can be hard to manage for teachers. One bad apple can ruin the apple tree. In the classroom setting, one out of control kid can ruin the learning experience for the rest of the students.
For the students, it can be hard to follow to class lessons if the class size is large. There is also the classroom desks situation. More desks have to be squeezed in which would make seating more cramped.
Maybe Split Grade Classes
From education funding cuts, there may be more split grade classes. A split grade class takes on two grades of students and puts them in one classroom. I have never had one myself but I knew of a few people that were in split grade classes. One example would be a grade 4 and 5 split grade classroom. Some students would be in grade 4 and some are in grade 5 with one teacher. The teacher would have to teach topics for the grade 4 and 5 students. From a teaching perspective, I am not sure how you plan lessons for a split grade class.
I did have one girl I worked with recently who had a split grade math class. Last year, she was a grade 6 student in a grade 6 and 7 split grass classroom. The teacher did not teach math differently for both groups. Instead the teacher treated everyone as grade 7 math students. The grade six students had to quickly learn grade 7 math concepts or they would do bad regardless of their prerequisite skills. Is this laziness from the teacher? I don't know. The grade six students must have been feeling confused from the grade 7 math concepts.
Other Notes
We will see over time the effects of education cuts for schools, teachers and students. I do think the workload for teachers will increase. More students in a class does lead to more marking, more classroom management and potentially dealing with more naughty kids in a classroom.
If the classroom environment gets really bad then some teachers are likely to quit. Some public school students who may have wealthy parents may transition to private schools. Students who do not come from a high income family would remain stuck in schools where the funding gets reduced.
I do see a few solutions though. There are private educational services that help students get better in school through either tutoring or supplemental services. These places may cost a lot of money though. Charities that have volunteer tutors for students are available too. Some of these charities may have to verify that the student does come from a low income family to qualify for the free or low cost tutoring.
