Laval, June 16, 2025 – The Regroupement des comités de parents autonomes du Québec (RCPAQ) is outraged and strongly denounces the budget cuts imposed on education by the Legault government. The financial effort required could reach nearly one billion dollars for 2025–2026, almost double the $510 million publicly announced, and adds to the cuts already made over the past year.
Rather than openly acknowledging these setbacks, the government prefers to use vague phrasing in an attempt to downplay their impact. It’s as if parents wouldn’t understand what is about to happen in our schools. But we know full well the consequences of these decisions, and it’s our children who will pay the price.
Cuts that are supposedly harmless to student services always end up translating into real losses. It means less support, less guidance, and less stability. It means more children waiting for services, and more parents losing faith in our public education system. And once again, the most vulnerable students will be the first to suffer.
The RCPAQ joins the growing outrage across the education network and is particularly concerned about the direct effects on staff: overload and discouragement, which will only worsen the current labour shortage. How can we talk about valuing education professions while failing to meet even the minimum needs of the system?
We must stop treating education as a budget line that can be trimmed at will. While billions are invested in other sectors in the name of economic development, our school system continues to be underfunded. Reducing the deficit on the backs of students shows a serious lack of vision, and it is a mistake Québec society will pay for over the long term.
And yet, we know better. We’ve already lived through this, and this very government once denounced such cuts and had begun to reverse course. Unfortunately, we are now heading back down that same road.
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For more information or for media contacts :
media@rcpaq.org | twitter.com/RCPAQorg
About the Regroupement des comités de parents autonomes du Québec
The RCPAQ represents parents, Francophones and Anglophones, involved in the public school network of their regions, who represent the families of 200,000 students or 20% of all students in Quebec.
