Monthly Archives: October 2019

TDSB Releases Updated Disrepair Data – Will Province Follow Suit?

October 31, 2019

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has released its annual snapshot of the condition of its schools. The Fix Our Schools campaign applauds the TDSB’s transparency on this issue and looks to the Ministry of Education to follow suit in updating and releasing disrepair data for all of Ontario’s publicly funded schools. As per today’s media release, the TDSB repair backlog currently stands at $3.5 billion and could hit $5.2-billion by 2023 without additional and predictable funding from the provincial government.

The last time the Province updated and released disrepair data for all of Ontario’s schools was two years ago in October 2017. At that time, the total disrepair in schools across the province totaled $15.9-billion, as determined by a third-party engineering firm hired by the Ministry of Education. Ontarians deserve to know if provincial funding for school repairs has been sufficient to start to see total disrepair in Ontario schools start to decrease – or if more needs to be done. Over 2-million children in this province spend their days in publicly funded schools and they deserve safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning. According to John Malloy, Director, TDSB, “Adequate (provincial) funding to modernize our schools is needed to ensure we have learning environments that support student achievement and well-being.”

Our provincial government is responsible for providing all funding for education and schools. This provincial funding provided to school boards for school repairs was grossly inadequate for almost 20 years, in many years only ONE-TENTH of what industry standards suggest as the bare minimum school boards required to conduct routine repairs and maintenance. This gross and chronic provincial underfunding meant that Mike Harris’ PC government bequeathed $5.6-billion of school disrepair to the Liberal government in 2003 and that the Liberals allowed school disrepair to triple over 15 years to a shocking $15.9-billion as of October 2017. Again, we urge the Ministry of Education to release updated disrepair data as soon as possible, in the same format as in October 2017 to provide transparency to all Ontarians. According to Robin Pilkey, Chair, TDSB, “The fact that the TDSB’s backlog could hit $5.2-billion by 2023 clearly demonstrates the need for additional and predictable (provincial) funding”.

 

Doug Ford’s Government is Back at Queen’s Park

October 29, 2019

After the longest recess in a quarter-century, Ontario’s MPPs returned to Queen’s Park this week. According to the Globe and Mail,  Premier Ford has promised a new, less confrontational approach to governing the province. As per the Toronto Star, the first legislation of the new session focused on allowing bars and restaurants beyond security checkpoints in some airports to serve alcohol 24 hours a day.

Fix Our Schools continues to be a non-partisan, Ontario-wide, parent-led campaign calling for safe, healthy, well-maintained publicly funded schools. To achieve this goal, we ask Doug Ford’s government to please increase provincial funding for school repairs, renewal, operational maintenance and new school builds. We also ask for the province to provide predictable funding to school boards. Adequacy and stability of provincial funding is an absolute necessity for school boards to be efficient and effective in dealing with repair backlogs in their buildings.

Additionally, we ask that Doug Ford’s government please update and release disrepair and Facility Conditions Index information for Ontario’s schools in the same format that was previously released in October 2017. The public deserves transparency into this data. Only by tracking the impact of provincial funding on school conditions, will we be able to objectively measure the adequacy of this provincial funding and determine the way forward.

 

MPP Kramp: $115.9-million of Disrepair in Hastings-Lennox-Addington Schools

October 24, 2019

Dear MPP Kramp,

Did you know there is $115.9-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Hastings-Lennox-Addington?

We wanted to share the following details of disrepair in each school in your riding in the hope that this detailed information would underscore the importance of developing standards of good repair for Ontario schools and also the importance of providing the adequate, stable provincial funding to school boards required for them to meet those new standards and eliminate the $15.9-billion repair backlog that plagues Ontario’s schools:

Total disrepair in each publicly funded school in Hastings-Lennox-Addington:

Holy Name of Mary Catholic School  $                    1,672,985
J J O’Neill Catholic School  $                    1,443,307
Our Lady of Mercy Catholic School  $                    1,166,100
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic School  $                    1,441,497
St Carthagh Catholic School  $                    1,505,003
St Mary Catholic School, Read  $                        974,863
St Patrick Catholic School, Erinsville  $                        387,672
Bayside Public School  $                    2,931,076
Bayside Secondary School  $                  18,332,196
Birds Creek Public School  $                    3,602,489
Centre Hastings Secondary School  $                    6,984,076
Deseronto Public School  $                        966,837
Foxboro Public School  $                        904,031
Hermon Public School  $                    3,224,900
Madoc Public School  $                    2,261,433
Madoc Township Public School  $                    2,862,753
Maynooth Public School  $                    2,430,385
North Hastings High School  $                  18,489,028
Susanna Moodie Elementary School  $                    2,373,132
Tyendinaga Public School  $                    1,785,384
York River Public School  $                    3,389,549

School conditions matter. They impact student learning, attendance, and health.

We commend you for personally signing the Fix Our Schools Pledge leading up to the June 2018 provincial election and ask that you and your government please prioritize schools as critical infrastructure. Please take the steps necessary to ensure that the disrepair in all of Ontario’s publicly funded schools is eliminated and that schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working. Please also note that the disrepair data we are relying upon is now two years old and must be updated and shared publicly.

We look forward to hearing back from you with details on your plan to Fix Ontario’s Schools and with details on when your government will update and release FCI/Disrepair data for all publicly funded schools in Ontario.

PLEASE NOTE: Fix Our Schools is relying on the most recent disrepair data provided by the Ministry of Education in Fall 2017 and has mapped postal codes provided by the Ministry for each school to riding postal code information from a third party. Therefore, it is possible that there may be small errors in the data provided here and we would be grateful if community members would contact us with any errors. 

Liberal Minority will lead Canada

October 22, 2019

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have a minority government. Pundits have varying opinions on how effective a minority government can be, as outlined in the Toronto Star piece entitled, “Minority Report: the good, bad, and ugly of hung parliaments”, published on October 18, 2019. Our fingers are crossed that, given the urgency of issues facing Canada and the planet, that this parliament will put aside its differences and any ego

At Fix Our Schools, we continue to prioritize school conditions as a key issue, given the important role that school infrastructure, including school infrastructure on First Nations reserves, plays in the lives and education of our young people. We also believe that improving Canada’s school infrastructure is a part of the solution towards addressing our climate change crisis with countless aging school buildings across the country representing huge opportunities for green renewal.

From coast to coast, school infrastructure in Canada desperately needs investment and renewal:

  1. From Manitoba, First Nation students sickened, forced from school due to ‘mould crisis’

2) From British Columbia, Shuswap school to reopen after mysterious smell causes seven-week shutdown

3) From Prince Edward Island, Status quo is not acceptable at Eliot River Elementary, says parent group pushing for improvements at school

Portables: Just One Reason Why Ontario Needs a Standard of Good Repair for Schools

October 17, 2019

Leading up to the last provincial election in June 2018, Fix Our Schools advocated for a Standard of Good Repair to be developed, implemented and funded by this provincial government. We were successful in obtaining the commitment of 58 elected MPPs to this concept and we continue to advocate for this idea to be realized.  You see, important aspects of our children’s learning environments are not reflected in the $15.9-billion of disrepair that has been assessed as required in Ontario’s schools. The following aspects are excluded:

  • Quality of drinking water due to old lead pipes
  • Quality of air due to asbestos in old school buildings and dampness/mold
  • Classroom temperatures, which are often too hot to learn in the spring and fall; and too cold to learn in the winter months
  • Conditions of portables, which are intended to be temporary facilities but often end up being on-site at a school for many, many years

 

We strongly believe the conditions of school portables ought to be assessed, and frequently hear from parents, students, and teachers about portables that are in a horrible state of disrepair.

 

If your child learns in a portable; or you teach in a portable, we’d love to hear from you about the learning/working conditions.  

 

Fix Our Schools Campaign: Key Successes

October 15, 2019

The Fix Our Schools campaign is comprised of parents, students, grandparents, teachers, principals, caretakers and citizens who believe that every publicly funded school in Ontario ought to be a safe, healthy, well-maintained building that provides an environment conducive to learning and working. We believe schools must be funded as a key component of our society’s infrastructure and that the $15.9-billion of disrepair in Ontario’s schools must be addressed immediately.

Our provincial government is responsible for providing all funding for education and schools. This provincial funding for school repairs was grossly inadequate for almost 20 years, in many years only ONE-TENTH of what industry standards suggest as the bare minimum school boards required to conduct routine repairs and maintenance. This gross and chronic provincial underfunding meant that Mike Harris’ PC government bequeathed $5.6-billion of school disrepair to the Liberal government in 2003 and that the Liberals allowed school disrepair to triple over 15 years to a shocking $15.9-billion as of October 2017. Furthermore, no provincial standard of good repair exists for Ontario schools to clearly outline the acceptable, measurable conditions for the critical public infrastructure we call schools.

Since launching in October 2014, we have built a large network of support across the province that has allowed us to achieve many successes – all of which have benefitted Ontario’s students, teachers, and education workers:

We believe that there is strength in numbers and power in our parent-led, non-partisan activism.  We encourage you to continue to engage with Fix Our Schools to help further our ongoing efforts to ensure that all Ontario’s publicly funded schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings.

  • Subscribe to our e-newsletters: fixourschools.ca
  • Engage with us on social media:
    • Facebook: Fix Our Schools
    • Twitter: @Fix_Our_Schools
  • Contact your local MPP, the Premier and the Education Minister to let them know you expect all publicly funded schools in Ontario to be safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working
  • Email photos of school disrepair to us @ info@fixourschools.ca to post anonymously. A picture is truly worth a thousand words! Please also send photos of Ontario’s school buildings that have recently been improved or built in your community! We’d love to see how the increased provincial funding for school repairs is benefitting your community.

MPP Anand: $92-M of Disrepair in Mississauga-Malton Schools

October 10, 2019

Dear MPP Anand,

Did you know there is $92-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Mississauga-Malton?

In 2018 MPP Anand signed the Fix Our Schools Pledge to create a Standard of Good Repair for Ontario schools

We wanted to share the following details of disrepair in each school in your riding in the hope that this detailed information would underscore the importance of developing standards of good repair for Ontario schools and also the importance of providing the adequate, stable provincial funding to school boards required for them to meet those new standards and eliminate the $15.9-billion repair backlog that plagues Ontario’s schools:

 

 

Total disrepair in each publicly funded school in Mississauga-Malton:

Ascension of Our Lord  $                 340,000
Holy Cross Sep S  $             3,974,538
San Lorenzo Ruiz  $                 735,150
St. Gertrude Sep S  $             1,477,872
St. Gregory  $             1,284,738
St. Jude Sep S  $             2,375,708
St. Raphael Sep S  $             1,438,969
St. Raymond  $                 844,662
St. Valentine Elementary School  $                 862,914
St. Veronica Elementary School  $                 995,000
Barondale P.S.  $             4,299,346
Brandon Gate PS  $             3,637,543
Bristol Road Middle School  $             3,972,918
Britannia P.S.  $                 763,542
Champlain Trail PS  $             1,775,960
Cooksville Creek P.S.  $             1,431,738
Corliss PS  $             3,033,266
Darcel Avenue Sr PS  $             5,417,805
Derry West Village P.S.  $             1,278,958
Dunrankin Drive PS  $             4,684,051
Lancaster PS  $             3,848,023
Lincoln M. Alexander SS  $           19,557,793
Marvin Heights PS  $             4,299,653
Morning Star Middle School  $           11,932,954
Nahani Way PS  $             2,780,794
Ridgewood PS  $             4,232,512
Whitehorn PS  $                 757,052

School conditions matter. They impact student learning, attendance, and health.

We commend you for personally signing the Fix Our Schools Pledge leading up to the June 2018 provincial election and ask that you and your government please prioritize schools as critical infrastructure. Please take the steps necessary to ensure that the disrepair in all of Ontario’s publicly funded schools is eliminated and that schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working. Please also note that the disrepair data we are relying upon is now two years old and must be updated and shared publicly.

We look forward to hearing back from you with details on your plan to Fix Ontario’s Schools and with details on when your government will update and release FCI/Disrepair data for all publicly funded schools in Ontario.

PLEASE NOTE: Fix Our Schools is relying on the most recent disrepair data provided by the Ministry of Education in Fall 2017 and has mapped postal codes provided by the Ministry for each school to riding postal code information from a third party. Therefore, it is possible that there may be small errors in the data provided here and we would be grateful if community members would contact us with any errors. 

 

The Many Ways Education Workers Ensure Our Children’s Schools are Safe, Healthy and Well-maintained

October 8, 2019

Education workers include caretakers, office staff, education assistants and lunchroom supervisors – all of whom play important roles in ensuring our children’s schools are safe, healthy, and well-maintained:

  • They clean washrooms, door handles, water fountains, lunchrooms, desks, floors, stairs
  • They conduct much of the operational maintenance in schools
  • They conduct safe water checks for our children’s drinking water
  • They run safe arrival programs
  • They provide supervision and support for students with special needs
  • They provide educational support in full-day kindergarten classrooms
  • They supervise our children during lunch

Just to name a few of the important things education workers do in our children’s schools. Next time you see an education worker, please say thank  you! 

Proposed Regulation Changes to Education Development Charges (EDCs)

October 3, 2019

Current provincial regulations guiding the eligibility for and use of Education Development Charges (EDCs) leave hundreds of millions of dollars in Developers’ pockets rather than being allowed to be invested in school repair, renewal, and additions. Since Fix Our Schools began in 2014, we’ve always believed that Developers ought to contribute financially to the public infrastructure in the neighbourhoods where they choose to build.

 

As such, we have urged the provincial government to amend the Ontario Regulation 20/98 that guides the eligibility for and use of EDCs. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has also often urged the provincial government to make changes to this outdated regulation. The TDSB has also, in fact, challenged the Ontario government over the equity of its EDC regulation. 

When the provincial government recently proposed regulation changes to EDCs, Fix Our Schools was originally excited that the proposed changes could unlock new funding sources for school repairs, renewal, and additions. However, no such luck. We have submitted the following  comments to the Ministry of Education, with the hope that our feedback will be integrated into additional changes to provincial EDC regulations:

Re: Proposed Regulations re: Education Development Charges (EDCs) and Notice by School Boards Prior to Acquiring Land

Fix Our Schools is a non-partisan, parent-led, Ontario-wide campaign calling for every publicly funded school in Ontario to be a safe, healthy, well-maintained building that provides an environment conducive to learning and working.

As context for our comments, we’d like to highlight that provincial funding for school repairs was grossly inadequate for almost 20 years, in many years only one-tenth of what industry standards suggest as the bare minimum school boards required to conduct routine repairs and maintenance. Mike Harris’ PC government bequeathed $5.6-billion of school disrepair to the Liberal government in 2003. The Liberals subsequently allowed school disrepair to triple over 15 years to $15.9-billion as of October 2017, the last time the Ministry of Education updated and publicly released school disrepair data.   

Given the shocking amount of disrepair plaguing Ontario’s schools, Fix Our Schools has, since our inception in 2014, urged the provincial government to consider all funding sources available to pay for repairs, renewal, and new school builds. In this solution-oriented spirit, Fix Our Schools has also urged the provincial government to consider revising the outdated provincial regulations that guide the eligibility for and use of Education Development Charges (EDCs).

We believe that in urban centres, Developers consider good local schools to be important to a new development’s profitability and that Developers intentionally select sites near good local schools in order to maximize profitability.

 

We have also heard from several sources that Developers presume they must pay Education Development Charges, not fully understanding that some school boards in some jurisdictions are not eligible to charge EDCs. Therefore, these Developers budget EDCs for all local school boards into their pricing models.

Given that Developers profit from good local schools and, suspecting that many Developers already include EDC costs into their pricing models, the provincial government must evolve its EDC regulations. New EDC regulations must ensure that Developers contribute financially, not only towards site acquisition for new schools, but also towards school repair, renewal, and additions where local schools aren’t able to accommodate new students.

In reviewing this current EDC proposal, we are disappointed to see that the provincial government continues to leave hundreds of millions of dollars in Developers’ pockets instead of using said money to improve the learning conditions of Ontario’s children. We urge the provincial government to make changes to Ontario Regulation 20/98 that would see Developers contribute in a meaningful financial way to ensuring that all Ontario children can attend a local school within a reasonable distance/travel time from their home and one that is safe, healthy and well-maintained. In fact, we were extremely disappointed to note that this proposed change actually decreases the amount of money that Developers contribute to critical public school infrastructure by putting a restriction of a 5% rate increase for EDCs.

Thank you for considering these comments. We look forward to next steps in regulation amendments.

Kind regards, Krista Wylie, Co-Founder of Fix Our Schools  

 

What Are Your Priority Issues for the Federal Election?

October 1, 2019

An issues-based election is always more productive than one filled with personal attacks on party leaders – don’t you agree?

So, if we want to see our priority issues discussed during the next few weeks leading up to the federal election on October 21st, we need to demand that these issues be discussed.

At Fix Our Schools, we continue to prioritize school conditions as an issue in this federal election and the important role that school infrastructure plays in the lives and education of our young people. With this in mind, we will be asking the following questions:

What are your priority issues for this federal election?

  • Childcare?
  • Climate change/Environment?
  • Economy?
  • Gun control?
  • Healthcare?
  • Housing?
  • Immigration?
  • Indigenous reconciliation?
  • Jobs?
  • What else do you prioritize as a key issue for this federal election?

If you’re interested in following the platforms of each of the six main parties, you may find this CBC site helpful. And finally, here are some easy opportunities for you to ensure your priority issues get discussed:

  • Ask your local candidates when they knock on your door campaigning
  • Send your local candidates an email or give their office a call, asking them their position/proposed solution for your priority issues
  • Attend a local candidates debate and ask about your priority issues in that forum
  • Contact media by sending a letter to the editor – either your local newspaper or a national news outlet
  • Talk with your network about your priority issues and find out theirs!