Protesters rallied at Queen’s Park on Wednesday, accusing the Ford government of intentionally starving the education system in order to manufacture a crisis and pave the way for the return of police officers in the classroom.Advocates say in order to keep schools safe, there needs to be funding in place for more education workers, more child and youth workers, more mental health supports, guidance counsellors, and social workers.Critics say Bill 33, also known as the Supporting Children and Students Act, does not set aside any money for those extra supports. It does, however, include a requirement for “boards to work with local police services to provide them with access to school premises, permit them to participate in school programs and implement school resource officer programs.”“This is ultimately an attack on all students in Ontario,” said Andrea Vásquez Jiménez, the director of Policing-Free Schools.A spokesperson for the Ford government tells CityNews, “School resource officer programs help foster positive relationships between students and law enforcement, ultimately making our schools safer.”Related:No current plans for return of school resource officers despite Ford government bill“There’s absolutely no evidence that their presence decreases violence within school spaces,” counters Jiménez.The Toronto District School Board ended the school resource officer program in 2017 after a survey found teens felt intimidated, watched or targeted. But data from several teachers’ unions show a dramatic 77 per cent increase in violence in Ontario schools since Doug Ford took office in 2018.Bill 33 will also give the Ford government what is being described as authoritarian power over school boards, and the Education Minister has threatened to eliminate elected trustees.“People are done with these school trustees wasting money, and they’re done with a lot of these school boards, so we’re going to hold them accountable,” Ford said at an unrelated announcement Wednesday in the GTA.“I’m not sure who the ‘they’s’ are in Doug Ford’s world, but I do know trustees were democratically elected to serve their communities,” said NDP MPP Jill Andrews.Jiménez adds that this is a pathway for the elimination of school boards and a pathway towards privatization.The Education Minister’s office says in the coming months, they will continue to consult with police agencies on how to bring back school resource officers.However, while the Toronto Police Association is backing the province, Toronto police told CityNews back in July they would not be bringing back school resource officers, opting instead to engage with schools only when invited for presentations, or when responding to calls for service.