At a recent Education Town Hall held by MPP Cheri Di Novo, Fix Our Schools spoke about Education Development Charges (EDCs). EDCs could be an important avenue for additional funding to address the poor state of schools in the TDSB. An audience member wondered why the Province hadn’t considered issuing bonds to raise the money to address the urgent repairs and maintenance across TDSB schools. Good question.
Our Provincial government must first acknowledge the importance of addressing the outstanding repairs and maintenance across aging Toronto public schools. If there was a political will, then certainly there are ways to find the money.
Conduct a quick web search using the words: “school boards”, “bonds” and “repairs” and you will see that many school boards south of the border have thought outside the box to raise the money required to ensure their children attended safe, well-maintained schools. If an issue is deemed important – the money will be found. Surely, the deplorable state of TDSB schools ought to be deemed an important issue?