Ontario high school parents are now eligible for $200 payments

Thestar.com
Dec. 23, 2020
Kristin Rushowy

The Ontario government is expanding its “support for learners” program to include families with high school students, making them eligible for a one-time, $200 payment per teen.

Premier Doug Ford made the announcement Tuesday along with other “new relief measures” for Ontarians dealing with the impact of COVID-19 -- including an automatic, discounted electricity rate of 8.5 cents per kilowatt hour for all customers for a month, which he said is “lower than the temporary discounted rate we introduced back in March during the first wave.”

The premier said that “after months of this pandemic, we know people need that extra help, especially during winter” and as many find themselves working from home.

“Once again, this reduction will benefit households, small businesses and farms. And customers won’t have to fill out an application to receive this rate. It’s just going to show up on your next bill,” Ford said.

The entire province moves into lockdown on Boxing Day, and following the holiday break all elementary and secondary students will be learning from home, online, from Jan. 4 to 8.

On Jan. 11, all students in northern Ontario can return to in-class learning as well as all elementary students in the province. However, high school students in southern Ontario will be taking classes online until Jan. 25.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the support-for-learners program is to help with technology costs such as laptops or any supplies teens need while learning at home.

But New Democrat MPP Marit Stiles, her party’s education critic, said the move missed the mark.

“Parents are now scrambling, and worried about their kids’ health, their mental and emotional well-being, and keeping their learning on track,” she said.

“It’s appalling that all the minister had to say (Tuesday) was that parents of high school students could apply for a small cheque -- ignoring all those legitimate and serious concerns that parents have right now.”

The province began the payments last spring during the initial school shutdown for elementary students and those with special needs up to to age 21, and started a second phase of the program for those same groups this fall.

So far, more than 1.3 million applications have been filed for the second phase, with more than $174 million in payments already made.

“We’re building upon that by extending the program to include, for the first time, parents and guardians of high school children, with the aim of helping even more Ontario families during these challenging times,” Lecce said Tuesday, adding that applications for parents with teens can be done online starting Jan. 11.

Lecce also said that an exception to the school shutdown has been made for students with special needs to allow for in-school programming after the holiday break.

“School boards were directed by me to ensure for those kids, the most vulnerable kids, special education children from the special education community that need to be in school, that they will be allowed to get back into school during that period of closure,” Lecce said. “There are exceptions made for the most vulnerable kids within our society, particularly from the developmental disability community” in order to help families, especially working and single parents.

Lecce also said that in January, he will announce an additional $380 million for schools to improve ventilation or hire more staff or purchase more personal protective equipment.

The province also plans to expand voluntary, asymptomatic testing in schools in hot spots, and Lecce said students will also get a “refresher” COVID lesson when they return to in-person learning about “how to wear a mask properly, just to really encourage the behaviour we want within our citizens and our young leaders.”

Some experts have questioned the government’s delay in implementing the province-wide lockdown until Dec. 26, saying it should be in place immediately to have maximum impact and better curb the growth of COVID-19.

“The vast majority of all the cases that we see are within five regions,” said Ford when asked about the criticism, naming Toronto, Peel, York, Hamilton and Windsor-Essex. But outside those areas “it’s going to be a big change” for people, he added.

“We thought we’d give them another day or so, let them get ready. But keep in mind, the vast majority of the population of Ontario right now is locked down.”