TORONTO, ON – The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) is raising urgent concerns following the release of the Auditor General of Ontario’s Special Report on Special Education Needs, which confirms that the provincial government has chronically underfunded special education and neglected the needs of students with disabilities.

“This report is another damning indictment of a government that has abandoned its responsibility to Ontario’s most vulnerable learners,” says ETFO President David Mastin. “After more than a decade of chronic underfunding and policy decisions that have stripped supports out of classrooms, school boards simply cannot meet the needs of children with disabilities. The system isn’t just strained; it’s fundamentally ableist.”