From: Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education

To: Chairs of District School Boards; Directors of Education; Secretary/Treasurers of School Authorities

In response to the unprecedented learning disruption stemming from the global COVID-19 pandemic, Ontario’s government introduced a one-time tutoring supports program to ensure our students had the support they needed to catch up. As this first-of-its-kind public tutoring support program nears its conclusion, I am proud to reflect on more than 200,000 students who have benefitted from meaningful and professional educational support. 

School boards are reporting significant successes for the program, including one school board reporting a 96 per cent success rate for students obtaining de-streamed math credits. On average, students in the program saw nearly 23 hours of tutoring support, which provided the necessary guidance to get back on track. 

As nearly 13 per cent of the allotted funding remains - or about $24M - I am pleased to extend Ontario’s $175M Tutoring Support Program until the end of the school year, allowing school boards who have funding remaining to maximize the investment and deliver the greatest impact to students. The final reporting date for the program has been revised to July 31, 2023. This will ensure tutoring supports are available to assist as many students as possible catch-up and achieve success – today, tomorrow and in the jobs of the future.  

The Tutoring Supports Program schedule in the multi-project transfer payment agreements with school boards has been amended to reflect these new dates. For those boards who have expended all of their funding allocation, the final report form is now open and can be accessed here: https://forms.office.com/r/wJX2t3hVgm. 

All school boards may continue to draw from existing investments in the Learning Opportunities Grant in the Grants for Student Needs to provide tutoring supports to students, including from the Tutoring Allocation (total allocation of $8.4M) and the Literacy and Math Outside the School Day Allocation (total allocation of $13.9M). 

I appreciate your continued efforts to ensure Ontario’s students have all the tools they need to get ahead.

Sincerely,

Stephen Lecce

Minister of Education