The Ontario government will invest more than $180 million to help students across the province improve their reading, writing, and math skills.

Minister of Education Stephen Lecce said during a press conference alongside Parliamentary Assistant Patrice Barnes on Sunday morning: "We know that for your children to reach their full potential, we must ensure they master their basic skills every day. Parents tell us they want their children's school to focus on the basics, improving reading, writing, and math. So today, we are setting our strategy to strengthen math, reading, and writing skills in Ontario by going back to basics."

Lecce also continued by saying that in Ontario and everywhere in the industrial world, "many children are falling behind."

It is noteworthy that the investment will bring 1,000 additional teachers: 300 teachers to support math and 700 to help develop literacy.

Specifically regarding math, Lecce said the province will invest more than $71 million in the 2023-2024 school year for this new plan, which supports financial literacy and financial coding mandated in Ontario across all grades.

The minister also said they intend to double the number of math coaches in schools within classrooms who "provide support to both teachers and students in struggling classrooms."

 Lecce also said the government will fund a specialized math leader "focused exclusively on improving math proficiency, training our teachers with new strategies to raise math skills in the classroom.

Moreover, Lecce said the province also intends to fund training and qualification courses in math and professional development for teachers.

Regarding literacy, Lecce said their new $109 million investment will include a comprehensive overhaul of the Ontario language curriculum by September as well as literacy screening for all students in Kindergarten Year 2 and grades 1 and 2.

Lecce also said that the free tutoring program in the province has been extended until the end of the school year.