Equitable Schools
REVOKE BILL 33
Supporting Children and Students Act, passed in November 2025. This legislation mandates police in schools as the primary answer to safety, wellness, and achievement, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
It is reprehensible that our provincial government has chosen to further underfund public education in their 2026 budget, while committing to spend more than $41 million over 3 years on school resource officer (SRO) police-in-schools programs across the province.
According to budget documents tabled at Queen’s Park when the Ontario budget was released on March 26, 2026, the government said this funding will contribute toward reducing the violence risks in schools. Despite government claims, there is no evidence that policing in schools improves safety. In decades of international research, studies have consistently shown that policing in schools does not prevent violence.
As community-based organization Policing-Free Schools has stated, the data and research are clear when it comes to the issue of police-in-schools: there is no evidence to support the notion that these programs make educational spaces safer. Meanwhile, there is ample evidence of the harmful impacts of police-in-schools on students, with particularly negative impacts on Black, Indigenous, racialized, 2SLGBTQQIA+, disabled, and neurodivergent students, as well as students with precarious immigration status, and including intersecting identities.
SAVE MODEL SCHOOLS
This is the first school year Model Schools will no longer receive extra staff and equity funding. The province made this decision without input from local schools resulting in major cuts for your school. Model Schools typically received additional teaching and administration support, a community support worker, and flexible funding that could be used for costs ranging from field trip fees to food.
The Model Schools program began 20 years ago to support communities with higher socio-economic needs–including your school.
Register for our webinar on Tuesday, October 6th at 6pm. Learn about resources to fill some of the gaps created by the Model Schools program closure, and tools to advocate to restore Model Schools funding.
Should you have any questions or need support, you can contact us at TDSBModelSchools@gmail.com or visit our linktree. Omar, Beth O, Beth T, Madelyn and Jane from Save Model Schools Collective