Legislative Update – August 7, 2020

The Legislative Assembly of Ontario is adjourned until September 14, 2020. Please see the following for an update on recent items.

September Return to School Plans

Following the announcement of last week’s Guide to Reopening Ontario’s Schools that provided details for school boards with direction for their September plans, a group of Ontario hospitals, including SickKids, issued a joint statement recognizing concerns about the return to school. “These are very uncertain times for everyone,” the statement says, adding that’s why they developed their report and recognized the need for added resources. “This was a collaborative effort, pulling together expertise from all of our hospitals; the document was shared with the community to provide a helpful resource leading up to the new school year.”

The funding memo regarding board-by-board financial allotments for back to school was released earlier this week.

B11 Investments to Support School Reopening in Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak

B11’s Appendix A: New Investments to Support School Reopening – Projected Priorities and Partnerships Fund Allocations, Appendix B: Projected Grants for Student Needs (GSN) Allocations and Appendix C: District School Board (DSB) Enhanced Cleaning Allocations – Previously Announced Funding

Child Care Funding

Today, the provincial government, in partnership with the federal government, announced $234.6 million in new funding for enhanced cleaning and health and safety requirements in child care and early years settings. The additional funding will help child care operators, EarlyON Child and Family Centres, and First Nations Child and Family Programs increase cleaning and infection control, ensure staff have access to personal protective equipment, promote physical distancing, purchase additional cleaning supplies, and support staffing needs.

Bill 197, COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act, 2020

On July 31, Ontario Regulation 440/20: Suspension of Elementary School Pupils was filed. This regulation follows the changes that were passed by Bill 197 that allowed regulations to be made to remove the discretionary powers of principals to suspend students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 3.

See OPSBA’s Submission

COVID-19 Update

Nearly all of Ontario is now in Stage 3 of the plan to re-open. However Windsor-Essex remains in Stage 2. The past week has seen multiple days of case numbers in the high double-digits, with most active cases concentrated in Ottawa, Toronto, Peel, York Region, and Windsor-Essex.

For more information, visit the OPSBA website.

Other information

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