The Ministry of Education has closed the Support for Parents program. All paper applications must have been received by June 12, 2020 and online applications by June 26, 2020.

The Support for Parents program was designed to assist parents impacted by strikes during central bargaining. The Government of Ontario has completed negotiations and ratified central agreements with its education labour partners. All strike action has ceased.

COVID-19: Support for families

Support for families is a program that provides one-time financial support for families to purchase educational materials during the current school and child care closures that are in effect due to COVID-19.

Under this program, parents are eligible for a one-time per child payment of:

  • $200 for children aged 0 to 12
  • $250 for children or youth aged 0 to 21 with special needs

Learn more about support for families.

Financial support for parents during strikes

Eligibility

Eligibility was limited to parents whose children were enrolled in a school or attending a school-based child care centre that was fully closed due to a strike. All strike action has ceased.

This funding did not apply while schools were closed due to COVID-19.

Parents were eligible for support if their:

  • children were not yet enrolled in school, but attend a school-based child care centre that has closed on account of the strike
  • children were in junior kindergarten up to and including Grade 7 in a publicly-funded school that has closed on account of a labour disruption
  • children had special needs and were in junior kindergarten up to and including Grade 12 (or up to age 21) in a publicly-funded school that was closed on account of a labour disruption

Eligible parents of children up to age 12 (Grade 7), or up to age 21 for children and youth with special needs, in a publicly funded school, qualified for:

  • $60 per day for children aged 0 to 6 who were not yet enrolled in school, but attended a school-based child care centre that was required to close on account of a strike
  • $40 per day for students in junior (JK) or senior kindergarten (SK)
  • $25 per day for students in grades 1 to 7
  • $40 total per day for students in JK to Grade 12 (or aged 21 and under) with special needs

A student with special needs means any student reported to be receiving special education programs or services by their school board. This does not include students formally identified as being Gifted, who are receiving special education programs and services.

Applications for special needs funding were validated against school board records of students receiving special education programs or services.

You were not eligible if your child went to a child care centre based outside of a school.

If you have more than one child, you must have submitted separate applications for each child. For example, if you have three eligible children, you must have submitted three separate applications.

Funds will be provided on a per child basis. Only one parent could apply for support. It was up to the child's parents or guardians to determine who would apply.

Application deadline

All paper applications needed to be received by June 12, 2020 and all online applications needed to be received by June 26, 2020.

Get your payment

Payment was available using direct deposit or cheque. Once you submitted your application, your payment method could not be changed.

Direct deposit

You could have received weekly payments through direct deposit. You needed to provide personal banking information if you chose this option. It took a minimum of two weeks to receive your first payment.

Cheque

If you chose to be paid by cheque, you will receive one cheque for the total amount that is owed to you. The ministry will mail cheques to applicants by the end of June 2020.

About collective bargaining

Under the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014, a collective agreement consists of both central and local terms.

In Ontario's publicly funded education sector, central terms for the collective agreements with teachers and education workers are bargained at the central level between the Crown and the trustees' associations or council of trustees' associations with teachers' federations and/or education workers' unions.

Local terms are negotiated between local school boards and their federations and unions to form a local agreement following central negotiations.

The last round of bargaining was in 2019. Memoranda of Settlement (MOS) of central terms have been ratified with all nine union tables in spring 2020, which concluded the 2019 round of central negotiations.

Once local terms have been reached and ratified, the collective agreement is finalized with central and local terms. Central terms have been ratified by all nine teacher and education worker bargaining tables and approved by the Crown.

Find your school board

Your school board's website is the best place to get timely news on what is happening at your local school. Find your school board using the School Information Finder.

The latest news on important developments for schools across the province will be posted in the recent news section.

Recent news

Read the latest news on important developments for schools across the province.

For the most up-to-date information, follow the Ministry of Education: