Rationed Care: The Human Cost of Ontario's EA Shortage

### Opinion: The Fallacy of Record Funding

This pattern is a familiar one: a government points to a massive top-line budget figure to signal success, while the people on the front lines describe a system in collapse. The current crisis facing Ontario's educational assistants (EAs) is a mirror image of the systemic strain seen in hospitals. When the province highlights record spending, it is a meaningless metric if the actual delivery of care is being rationed on the classroom floor.

Funding is not the same as staffing. You cannot provide support to a vulnerable child with a budget line item; you provide it with a qualified human being. When we allow recruitment to fail and burnout to peak, we aren't just facing a labor shortage—we are failing the most vulnerable students who depend on stability to learn and survive. Until the province prioritizes human resources over raw figures, the 'record funding' is nothing more than a statistical shield against a crumbling reality.

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### The Reality of 'Rationed' Support

As CBC Toronto first reported, education workers and parents are sounding alarms over a province-wide shortage of educational assistants. Advocates describe a situation where care is effectively "rationed" across multiple classrooms, leaving high-needs students without the steady support they require.

Educational Assistants Association president Lisa Weiler Haskins told CBC Toronto that understaffing produces concrete, disruptive effects in the classroom. She cited the example of a single EA who is split across four different classrooms. While the hour a day the EA spends with a specific grade three student is described as "magnificent" for both that student and their peers, the support vanishes once the EA leaves. Haskins noted that without this support, the student may act out, which in turn prevents teachers from being able to teach.

### Classroom Evacuations and Staff Burnout

The consequences of this shortage extend beyond missed learning opportunities. Weiler Haskins told CBC Toronto that when high-needs students are left unsupported, it frequently results in "classroom evacuations." These are traumatic events where entire classes must be rushed into hallways so staff can manage a dysregulated child, a process that can involve the child tearing apart a room.

These volatile environments are also taking a toll on the workforce. Weiler Haskins noted that EAs frequently sustain injuries on the job. Pamela Boniferro, President of the Dufferin-Peel Education Resource Workers’ Association, told CBC Toronto that the environment has led to widespread burnout, reporting that members often sit in their cars crying before their shifts begin.

### The Parental Perspective

For parents, the shortage manifests as a constant struggle for basic accommodations. Cataldo Brugnano told CBC Toronto that getting support for his son—who is on the autism spectrum and recently exited public education—meant a constant, unyielding struggle with the system. Brugnano stated that he often had to "badger and badger and badger" to get anything to happen, noting that staff wanted to help but lacked the resources because his son was only one of many students in need.

Brugnano further linked the instability of care to low pay and high turnover. He told CBC Toronto that his son went through 15 different counselors over a five-year period, a rate of turnover he described as "ridiculous" and frustrating for both the child and the parents.

### The Funding Debate and Recruitment Crisis

In response to these concerns, Emma Testani, press secretary for the Minister of Education, told CBC Toronto that the province has increased annual education funding to a record $30.6 billion. Testani stated that the province supported the hiring of more than 4,500 additional EAs, though she clarified that staffing decisions are ultimately the responsibility of local school boards.

However, Boniferro argues that raw funding is useless without a concrete strategy to attract and retain workers. She told CBC Toronto that provincial funding models often prioritize physical resources over human support, noting that while a student cannot learn with a pencil and paper if there is no EA, they can learn with an educator even if they lack supplies.

Boniferro pointed to a recruitment crisis fueled by a collapse in college enrollment, evidenced by a high number of daily "fail-to-fills"—absences that remain uncovered because no supply staff are available. She suggested the province adopt recruitment strategies similar to those used in health care, asking why there are no incentives or premiums to encourage people to enter EA programs, similar to the approach used for nurses and Personal Support Workers (PSWs).

### Looming Contract Deadlines

These issues are surfacing as five major education unions representing workers in public, Catholic, and French schools negotiate new collective agreements. According to CBC Toronto, a notice to bargain was served on Wednesday, with contracts set to expire on August 31.

Rather than focusing solely on standard wage increases, the unions are pushing for a pivot in negotiations toward permanent job security and mandatory staffing ratios to ensure that the "rationing" of care ends.