Since our inception as a campaign in Spring 2014, Fix Our Schools has urged the provincial government to change its outdated regulation regarding eligibility and use of Education Development Charges (EDCs). Over the past four years, the issue of EDCs has surfaced countless times as a possible (albeit partial!) funding solution for the $15.9-billion repair backlog plaguing Ontario’s publicly funded schools.
On February 27, 2018, G
lobe & Mail reporter Caroline Alphonso reported that the TDSB, Canada’s largest school board, has challenged the Ontario government over the equity of its EDC regulation in an article entitled, “TDSB challenges “unfair” development-charge regulation”.
In its filing to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the TDSB pointed out that, while it is obligated under the Education Act to provide “adequate accommodation” to all students who have a right to attend its schools, “the TDSB is not able to adequately plan for and address the accommodation pressures occasioned by that growth.”