Quebec announces $540M in funding for student services after mounting pressure over education budget cuts
Posted July 16, 2025 11:35 am.
Last Updated July 16, 2025 5:10 pm.
The Legault government announced Wednesday morning an additional $540 million in investments in education, after weeks of mounting pressure and a petition.
The funds are intended exclusively for student services, Education Minister Bernard Drainville clarified.
“Let’s be clear, this is not an open bar. Of the $540 million announced today, $425 million is allocated to a dedicated envelope. To qualify, each CSS will have to demonstrate that it has made efforts to reduce its administrative expenses, in addition to committing to ensuring that the money is used exclusively for student services. Accountability reporting will be required,” he wrote on the social network X.
“Furthermore, the maximum number of employees in certain CSSs is being increased to take into account their specific circumstances, including an increase in the number of students to be educated in their territory. In very concrete terms, all CSSs are seeing their budgets increase,” added Mr. Drainville, without disclosing the amount.
When unveiling his budget rules in June, the minister of education asked school service centres (CSS) to reduce their expenses by $570 million for the next year.
This was followed by a mobilization of the school community. A coalition of parents’ committees, school administrators, school management staff, and unions formed to call on the Legault government to back down.
A mobilization that is “worth it”
In response, the PQ launched a petition on the National Assembly website, calling on the government not to make any cuts that would directly affect student services — as of Wednesday, it had over 158,000 signatures.
PQ MNA Pascal Bérubé, who sponsored the petition against budget cuts, is pleased to see that popular mobilization has pushed the government to act. The education critic for the PQ promises to keep up the pressure.
“I want to have the guarantee that, this fall, there will be no fewer services for students in difficulty, for students with disabilities, for students with special needs, that all the services will be there. And that is not yet a given,” he said.
Bérubé invites Quebecers to continue to share and sign the petition.
In his post Wednesday, Drainville said he consulted with school organizations and listened to their feedback over the past month.
Despite this change of direction, the system is still facing a weakened situation for the next school year, according to stakeholders.
Richard Bergevin, the president of the Federation of Teachers’ Unions (FSE), affiliated with the CSQ, welcomed the minister’s announcement, which would avoid “the major tragedy” announced last month for student services.
However, the school system will inevitably suffer cuts and services to students will be reduced, said Bergevin.
“Even if we recognize the significant effort being made by the government currently, we must remember that they initiated these cuts and that now they are not reinjecting all of the amounts they cut, but rather only a portion,” he said.
The union leader said that “the injection of money into the system does not correspond to the growth in the number of students in the education system.”
Following the announcement, the English Parents Committee Association (EPCA) said in a press release that is urging the Quebec government and the entire education network “to go further to ensure students’ access to essential educational services are never compromised.”
“It is unacceptable that our children’s future continues to be put at risk in the name of balancing budgets,” added Katherine Korakakis, President of EPCA. “Educational services are not a luxury — they are essential.”
The Fédération des comités de parents du Québec (FCPQ) is echoing the same sentiment.
“Our children’s education, their success and well-being must come before balancing the budget,” says Mélanie Laviolette, President of the FCPQ.
Upcoming recruitment challenge
Student services could also be affected by recruitment issues as the next school year approaches. Sylvain Martel, spokesperson for the Regroupement des comités de parents autonomes du Québec, says Wednesday’s announcement comes “very, very late” in the CSS administrative process.
“We fear that irreversible damage has already been done, particularly in terms of staff retention and hiring. Many people left the school system after the June announcements. These people will not come back because, this morning, we decided to reverse that decision,” Martel maintains.
He promises to remain vigilant and monitor the terms surrounding the payment of the sums.
Bergevin also doubts that many of the professionals who decided to leave the school system will return to the system “because, all of a sudden, the government has just said that it is opening positions.”
“We risk losing qualified people, talented people who could have helped our students, but who will go on to do something else in life because a government is playing too much of a yo-yo game with funding the education system,” he laments.
Although satisfied with the decision, the CSN believes that the minister and the Coalition avenir Québec “should not expect to receive flowers.”
“We cannot act in such an irresponsible manner, disorganizing an entire network during a staffing period and threatening to harm the quality of education for thousands of children, only to then expect “thanks” when we backtrack,” reacted the first vice-president of the CSN, François Enault, in a press release.
Québec solidaire spokesperson Ruba Ghazal also emphasized that “Bernard Drainville’s backtracking on education cuts proves that the mobilization is worth it.”
“It’s a shame that it took a huge outcry for the CAQ to understand that its cuts are a bad decision that penalizes the most vulnerable students,” she said on the social network X.
Quebec Liberal Party education critic Madwa-Nika Cadet, for her part, stated that “it was THE decision to make.” But concerns remain, the MNA said.
“Why did it take an unprecedented mobilization for the CAQ to act? Why did they deny that the cuts would affect student services?” she wrote on X.
-With files from The Canadian Press
