EDITOR’S NOTE: This article originally appeared on The Trillium, a Village Media website devoted to covering provincial politics at Queen’s Park
Advocates and school boards say it's time for the Ford government to rethink the continued moratorium on school closures after government officials flagged that the ban is eating into boards' "limited school renewal funding."
The "ongoing moratorium means boards are spending their limited school renewal funding on maintaining and operating schools that may otherwise have closed," stated briefing notes provided to Todd Smith during his short tenure as education minister after he was appointed to the role on June 6. Smith announced in August that he was leaving politics for the private sector.
The transition notes, obtained through a freedom-of-information request, also said school boards aren't given specific funding for "facility modernization," with boards saying this would be helpful to have.
This follows Ministry of Education officials informing a legislative committee last month that 43 per cent of school boards are reporting in-year deficits for 2024-25, as previously reported by The Trillium.
"The staff have flagged this as a problem ... that this ongoing moratorium makes no sense," Krista Wylie, co-founder of advocacy group Fix Our Schools, said of the moratorium on school closures, which has been in place since the previous Liberal government introduced it in 2017. "But Doug Ford and his government are too weak and afraid of public backlash, because closing a school is a very unpopular thing to do in any community."
Wylie said the closure of some schools is warranted — though she'd want them to remain as public assets — so that resources could be "concentrated on higher utilized schools."
"Staff are absolutely right. They're trying to repair schools where maybe 100 people or 400 students go there, and it was built to house 1,000 students," she said.
While the briefing notes stated that the government is providing around $1.4 billion each year to "renew and improve" schools, Wylie said the funding isn't cutting it and that repairs are often reactive.
"A roof will become a priority when it's leaking," she said. "The disrepair actually impacts kids and teachers and the programming and the education that our kids receive in those buildings."
The Ontario Public School Boards' Association (OPSBA), which represents English public boards and public school authorities that account for more than half the student population in Ontario, said a majority boards are affected by the moratorium — meant to be a "temporary pause" — in some way.
"During the moratorium, school boards have been delicately balancing the upkeep of aging infrastructure, shifting enrolment, and financial pressures while doing their best to deliver quality programming in their schools," said OPSBA President Kathleen Woodcock in a statement to The Trillium.
"The current situation has created unsustainable funding deficits, as it costs the same to clean, heat, maintain, and keep the lights on in a school whether it is half empty or full."
Consolidating schools can result in a "better educational experience" for students, said Woodcock, adding that this could include more program options and specialized support services, improved accessibility in and outside of the school and "modernized, energy-efficient buildings that are well-maintained and include facilities to meet diverse student needs such as gyms, libraries, technological education, arts/music and STEM programming."
She acknowledged that while closures can be difficult and emotional for school communities, "they are often necessary to ensure the academic success of students and the long-term financial stability of the school district while responding to natural shifts in demographics over time."
"It’s clear there is a need for a cautious and nuanced approach to school closure and consolidation, one that reflects the important role schools play in communities – particularly smaller, rural, and remote communities," Woodcock added. "We are looking for a solution that allows us to have these conversations to determine with school communities what is best for students."
The Toronto District School Board has been asking the government to no avail to lift the moratorium or grant it an exemption for up to four consolidation projects each year, saying that the policy has "prevented us from providing the breadth of programming and opportunities that students deserve and has also created costly operational pressures that take money away from increasing opportunities for students and require us instead to invest inefficiently in under-utilized, aging schools."
The Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board (KPRDSB) east of Toronto has so far unsuccessfully tried to get funding from the province for a new Kindergarten to Grade 12 school in Newcastle, to replace Clarke High School and The Pines Senior Public School — schools that sit along a highway.
The board's business case for the new school included the "disposal" of the existing school properties, with KPRDSB saying it previously advocated for the province to lift the moratorium on school closures.
Meanwhile, the briefing notes prepared for Smith also said there is "no dedicated funding to modernize schools in Ontario."
"Boards can use some of their renewal allocation to support improvements (but renewal funding is primarily focused on renewal/replacement of existing building components)," the documents stated, going on to list some needs including improving accessibility, adding ventilation, addressing "underlying causes of lead in drinking water or removing asbestos."
This, according to Wylie, is a problem.
"Many of these are actual health concerns," she said. "All of these things impact learning and then impact our kids' achievement as well."
Woodcock, of OPSBA, said having "distinct and flexible" funding for modernizing schools would be preferable so that boards can ensure schools are continually being improved.
"Public education is an important pillar of society, and school boards shouldn’t have to fight for funding that meets inflation or dip into deficit to just be able to keep the lights on, and the supports there, for our students," she said.
As for the TDSB, a spokesperson said the board is facing a maintenance and renewal backlog of more than $4 billion and is "not really in a position to modernize when we’re only able to take care of emergency, urgent and health and safety issue."
Education Minister Jill Dunlop's office did not respond to questions regarding the moratorium or funding for modernizing schools before publication.
