Toronto high schools seeing concrete repercussions to the Ford Government's funding cuts to education.
The Toronto District School Board announing late this afternoon that they're being forced to cancel more than 300 secondary school classes across the city for the upcoming school year.
And some grade levels will need to be combined for certain classes.
In an email, the TDSB announced that 313 sections of courses have been cancelled outright at several high schools. Meanwhile, 304 sections of courses will continue, but the number of students in those classes will increase.
So, how will this impact students in grades 11 and 12 who need required courses to graduate? Speaking to our sister station CP24, TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird says, "The important think to note is that compulsory classes, you know the math, the English, the science - there's history in certain classes like grade 10 - those will continue to be offered and we're gonna work with all those students to make sure they have the most courses possible."
A range of classes at different secondary schools have been cancelled, like some grade 12 law courses, some grade 9/10/11/12 music courses, some grade 9 and 11 construction technology courses just to name a few.
In all, 123 compulsory Grade 9 courses, which include math, science, geography, english, french and phys ed have been impacted. It's estimated that 64 Grade 10 compulsory courses have also been impacted.
133 grade 9/10 electives and 414 grade 11/12 electives will also feel the effects of these changes.
It's important to note that the changes and cancellations vary from school to school.
In a written statement, Bird added, "We've said from the beginning that when you reduce the number of secondary teachers in our schools, it has a direct impact on the course options and services for our students."
"As a result of provincial changes to class size averages, we're seen a number of elective courses cancelled, a number of others that will continue but with larger class sizes or combined grades and levels, and a number of other services such as library and guidance reduced."
The average class size in Ontario high schools will go from 22 students up to 28 over the next few years.