Overview
- The 25-member Aggression and Complexity in Schools Action Team delivered seven recommendations that call for class-size criteria, cross-ministry coordination, expanded Program Unit Funding, earlier interventions, and stronger educator training.
- The government established a Class Size and Complexity Cabinet Committee to translate the roadmap into policy and is gathering class-size and composition data for public release in January to guide implementation.
- Over three years, school boards will receive $300 million to hire 1,500 educational assistants, with flexibility to fund additional EAs or in-class supports such as assessments and therapies, on top of earlier funding to hire 3,000 teachers.
- Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said decisions now move to the cabinet committee and signaled next steps could begin as early as January following the data review.
- ATA president Jason Schilling welcomed parts of the report but urged immediate, larger-scale hiring after previously seeking 5,000 more teachers, while CUPE said 1,500 EAs restore only about half of what has been lost since 2019, a dispute following a strike ended by back-to-work legislation and use of the notwithstanding clause.