Ontario’s education funding per student is decreasing after inflation, watchdog finds - Toronto Star

The government says Financial Accountability Office of Ontario's figures don't provide the full picture.

Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra  in Ottawa last December. His spokesperson said the FAO report “does not reflect the future cost of teachers’ salaries, which account for over 80 per cent of education spending.”

Education spending may have gone up, but it is increasing at a much slower rate than in past years and per-student funding is decreasing when inflation is factored in, says a new report from the province’s financial watchdog.

“In an inflation-adjusted basis (i.e., real 2026-27 dollars), provincial operating funding to school boards was $15,140 per student in 2025-26, the second lowest level over the last 10 years, after 2024-25,” says the report released Wednesday by the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario, or FAO.

“... the FAO estimates that real provincial operating funding to school boards will decrease to $15,074 per student in 2026-27, $14,850 per student in 2027‑28 and $14,775 per student in 2028-29.”

Overall, education funding sat at $42.7 billion in 2025-6 and will rise to $43.4 in 2028-29, the report says, representing a 0.6 per cent increase and a “significantly slower pace than the 5.6 per cent average annual growth” from 2022-23 to 2025-26.

The post-secondary envelope, which includes some revenue from colleges, sat at $13.6 billion in 2025-26 and will decrease to $12.7 billion in 2028-9. 

The government says FAO reports are a “snapshot” in time and that public accounts, to be released Thursday, will provide the full picture.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario is the second education union to announce such a move, set for November.