Cheaper to Rebuild Some Schools than to Repair

February 4, 2020

The last time the Ontario government released disrepair data for publicly funded schools was in Fall 2017 despite the fact that on the Ministry of Education’s website, we read: 

“The Government of Ontario is committed to increasing the transparency of its historic investments in school infrastructure so that Ontarians can see the importance of this funding and the results it yields over time. That is why the Ministry of Education is ensuring that the most recent results from its School Condition Assessment Program are readily available to the public. Through this program, independent, third-party facility inspectors conduct assessments to obtain data on the current condition of all open and operating schools across the province. The Facility Condition Index (FCI) is derived from the information that is collected through this process.”

Fix Our Schools has made repeated calls for the Ford government to update and release disrepair data for all schools in the province but our requests have, to date, fallen on deaf ears. And so, we are left relying on data that is over two years old. Based on this data, economist Hugh Mackenzie estimated that there were 346 schools in the province that would be cheaper to rebuild than to repair. 

And, according to CBC’s February 4, 2020 article, “14 aging Toronto public schools would cost more to repair than rebuild“. 

The list of schools include:

  1. Etobicoke Year Round Alternative Centre
  2. Oakdale Park Middle School
  3. Amesbury Middle School
  4. Winona Drive Senior Public School
  5. Charles G. Fraser Junior School
  6. Ryerson Community School
  7. Montrose Junior Public School
  8. Winchester Junior and Senior Public School
  9. Blythwood Junior Public School
  10. Eastdale Collegiate Institute
  11. Glen Ames Senior Public School
  12. Secord Public School
  13. Vradenburg Junior Public School
  14. Timberbank Junior Public School

The 14 schools highlighted above have a facility condition index (FCI) number of more than 100 percent, which is calculated by taking the total cost of repairs and dividing it by the value of replacing the entire building. The Ministry of Education hires independent, third-party facility inspectors to gather the information. We are able to identify the 14 schools above because the TDSB updates and releases disrepair for all of its schools each year. While Fix Our Schools is not suggesting that rebuilding these schools is the best approach, we are highlighting how incredibly unacceptable it is that provincial funding over the past 22 years has caused schools to deteriorate to this degree.

 

When asked how the Province was going to respond to the unacceptable level of disrepair in schools, Education Minister Stephen Lecce touted that his government had launched a program last year that will invest more than $500 million into new schools and renovations in addition to the $1.4-billion/year allocated to repair and renewal. When the TDSB alone has $3.5-billion of disrepair in its schools, a $2-billion investment clearly is not sufficient. Fix Our Schools is pushing for an additional $1.6 billion/year from the province, in addition to the $1.4-billion/year Ontario schools are currently receiving.

 

Adequate and Stable Funding From the Province

January 31, 2020

On January 17, 2020 Fix Our Schools went to Queen’s Park and sat before the Committee of Finance and Economic Affairs as part of the pre-budget consultation process. Our first ask of this committee was to ensure both adequate and stable provincial funding to publicly funded education and schools.

Without adequate funding, school boards simply cannot meet the goals they need to achieve – such as keeping their school buildings in a state of good repair. Even though this seems like a ridiculously obvious statement, we know that for over twenty years Ontario’s provincial government only provided a small fraction of the $1.4-billion/year that industry standards suggest was required for school boards to be able to properly maintain their school buildings. In fact, when the Fix Our Schools campaign began in 2014, provincial funding to school boards for school repair and renewal was only $150-million/year – one-tenth of the $1.4-billion/year needed! 

The provincial funding dynamic for public schools is akin to a parent giving their child $10 and expecting that child to purchase a week’s worth of groceries for a family of four people. We think you’d agree that the child in this example would not be able to realistically meet the goal outlined, given the completely inadequate funding provided by the parent? School boards are like children in that they rely exclusively on the “parent” provincial government to provide adequate funding. We think you’d agree that school boards would not be able to realistically be able to keep their school buildings in a state of good repair, given that provincial funding for over two decades has been grossly inadequate?

And yet, our provincial government holds school boards completely responsible for the $16.3-billion of disrepair that has accrued in publicly funded school boards over that period. Fix Our Schools find this situation to be frustrating and unacceptable and has proposed that an additional $1.6-billion/year in provincial funding is needed in order for school boards to have a realistic chance of eliminating the $16.3-billion repair backlog in Ontario’s schools within 7-8 years.

Our second request to the Committee of Finance and Economic Affairs was that provincial funding to school boards be stable and predictable. Again, this seems ridiculously obvious that in order for school boards to be able to forward plan and operate in the most effective and efficient manner, they need to know their funding from year to year and be able to count on that funding. However, the reality for school boards over the last 22-years is that each year, they wait with baited breath to find out annual provincial funding; and also frequently deal with mid-year cuts to this funding. This is absolutely unacceptable if school boards are to operate efficiently and effectively.

An example of the degree to which inadequate and unstable provincial funding can disrupt the publicly funded education system and schools is provided in this CTV News Article of January 27, 2020 entitled, “CUPE Claims Ford government not holding up its end of the bargain”.

In this article, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which is the union representing education workers such as caretakers, early childhood educators and lunchroom supervisors, says “the government agreed to restore $78 million in funding to re-hire 1,300 staff across provincial school boards” and “the money was supposed to flow to local school boards at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year” – “but the money has yet to leave the government’s bank account.” In this article, the government said the money cannot be released until all education-sector unions have signed new contracts, which appears to have been very different from CUPE’s understanding. This misunderstanding has resulted in ongoing inadequate provincial funding and introduced instability to the flow of funding as well. As Fix Our Schools has always maintained, adequacy and stability of funding is key to effectiveness and efficiency.

Fix Our Schools’ Submission to the Pre-budget Consultation

January 28, 2020

As part of the provincial budget planning process, the Committee of Finance and Economic Affairs runs consultations across the province to listen to presentations from various interested parties. Fix Our Schools was selected to present on Friday, January 17, 2020 when the Committee was sitting at Queen’s Park in Toronto.

In addition, each Ministry seeks funding feedback from relevant parties. The Ministry of Education sent out a memorandum on January 13, 2020 seeking education funding feedback from Directors of Education, Senior Business Officials, Secretary/Treasurers of School Authorities and other Education Partners. In this memorandum, the government indicated a “particular interest in receiving comments on initiatives that could support reducing red tape and administrative burden for the education sector.” The province also underscored its commitment “to supporting students, so they can reach their full potential and succeed in school, life and beyond.”

Fix Our Schools took advantage of the opportunity to submit its feedback directly to the Ministry of Education in order to echo what we had presented to the Committee of Finance and Economic Affairs earlier in the month.

Bankers’ Bleak Bonuses in 2019 Could Fix Ontario’s Schools

January 23, 2020

In a December 6, 2019 article by Doug Alexander on BNN Bloomberg entitled, “Canada’s bankers face the bleakest bonus year in almost a decade” we learn that in 2019, Canada’s Big Six banks racked up a record $46.6 billion in annual net income and reserved $15.6 billion for bonus payouts. Interesting that what has been categorized as “bleak bonuses” for bankers in one single year could almost pay to fix the entire $16.3-billion of disrepair that has accumulated in Ontario’s publicly funded schools over the past two decades.

We’re not suggesting that bankers across Canada ought to be responsible for providing the funding to fix Ontario’s schools. We are, however, suggesting that corporate taxes are key and that, perhaps, Canada’s banks ought to be contributing more to the public coffers.

According to Statistics Canada, pre-tax profits in the banking sector as a whole soared by 60 per cent from 2010-2015. However, during that same period, the sector’s tax rate dropped by almost the same amount. This can be attributed to both repeated corporate tax rate cuts and also to the fact that Canada’s largest corporations use complex techniques and tax loopholes to reduce their taxes significantly below the official corporate tax rate set by the government. It would seem that banks reduce their taxes by far more than other corporations since, in 2015, businesses in the rest of the economy paid taxes at a rate triple that of banks.

Fix Our Schools Presents at Queen’s Park

January 21, 2020

On January 17, 2020, Fix Our Schools had the opportunity to present to the Standing Committee of Finance & Economic Affairs as part of its pre-budget consultation process. We handed out this document to the committee, urging them to:

  1. Provide adequate and stable funding to school boards for school infrastructure.
  2. Develop a standard of good repair for all Ontario’s publicly funded schools.
  3. Invest the additional $1.6-billion per year needed to eliminate the $16.3-billion repair backlog in schools within seven-eight years.
  4. Continue to collect disrepair data for schools and resume the practice adopted by the previous Liberal government of publicly releasing annual updates on this school disrepair data; adding portables to this process.
  5. Work together in a non-partisan, solution-oriented manner to find the funding solutions needed to make the $1.6-billion per year investment in Ontario’s school infrastructure.

The official transcript of our presentation and subsequent questions from both NDP and PC members of this committee can be read HERE.  The Standing Committee of Finance and Economic Affairs hears many presentations across the province, which represent an important opportunity within our democratic process to give input to our government on how they ought to prioritize funding in the upcoming budget.  The photo below depicts an Education rally at Queen’s Park from the spring, where citizens had another opportunity to provide input to the government on its proposed cuts to education funding.

The presentation delivered by Fix Our Schools served as a platform to further emphasize our asks above to the members of the Standing Committee of Finance & Economic Affairs. Our hope is that our input will be seriously considered as this government develops its spring budget.

What do Ontario’s Students Have to Say?

January 16, 2020

There is much discussion these days about Ontario’s students, which got us thinking back to the spring, when Fix Our Schools had the opportunity to be at Queen’s Park supporting the Ontario Student Trustees’ Association (OSTA-AECO) as they released an incredibly thoughtful, well-researched vision document entitled, “The Students’ Vision for Education”.  We thought the timing was great to revisit this student perspective.

OSTA-AECO is a non-partisan organization comprised of student trustees from public and Catholic school boards across the province. Representing approximately 2-million Ontario students, OSTA-AECO members work with provincial partners in government to improve our publicly funded education system for students.

The vision articulated by OSTA in The Students’ Vision for Education document is impressive and student-focused. The vision document represents much research and reflects data collected from over 20,000 surveys. Truly, this vision document is a huge testament to Ontario’s education system, one of the best in the entire world according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

As outlined in the Forward of the OSTA-AECO vision document, Ontario’s strong education system is no accident. It has relied on excellent, dedicated work by educators, administrators, and students.

“A publicly-funded education system is an integral part of any mature society. It lifts communities up, promotes widespread equity, and provides countless opportunities for citizens to succeed throughout their lives. The immense benefit of publicly-funded education is unquestionable; it is a promise of prosperity, success, and development. Nevertheless, to protect it, Ontario must constantly improve it.” – pg. 6 of OSTA-AECO vision document

OSTA’s vision document provides our provincial government with 35 long-term recommendations that “strive to transform every facet of our education system”.

For the Fix Our Schools campaign, perhaps the most pertinent recommendations from OSTA-AECO were under the pillar entitled, “Funding Formula Reform”, which calls on our provincial government to rectify the significant issues of funding inadequacy. Since 2014, Fix Our Schools has asked the Province to ensure adequate, stable funding for school building infrastructure and we were heartened to hear such strong support from OSTA-AECO for ensuring safe, healthy, well-maintained school buildings in this province.

In fact, OSTA-AECO identifies the growing state of disrepair in publicly funded schools as “one of the largest challenges facing Ontario’s education system”, noting that the capital repair backlog has grown from $5.6-billion in 2002 to a whopping $15.9-billion as of the most recent release of disrepair data by the province in Fall 2017. Fix Our Schools has since learned that the repair backlog in Ontario’s schools has grown to $16.3-billion.

 

The following student quote from the OSTA-AECO vision document provides a vivid illustration of how disrepair in Ontario’s schools negatively impacts student learning:

OSTA-AECO also calls on our provincial government to implement a Standard of Good Repair for Ontario schools as part of the solution to poor learning conditions in Ontario’s schools. Recognizing that “it is extremely difficult for students to succeed if they are shivering in class, the provincial government must create a standard for good repair which is localized for unique costs, individualized through school-based funding, and be completely detached from utilization rates. It should be provincial through consistent standards across the board for the temperature that is conducive for learning, cleanliness, and facilities’ upkeep requirements.”

What Really Hurts Kids?

January 14, 2020

In a tweet from our Education Minister Stephen Lecce on January 10th tweet, he made the odd choice of using a stock photo of a rundown looking classroom possibly from Brazil instead of using an actual photo from an Ontario classroom:

Such an unusual choice of photos, since we have collected so many actual photos of poorly maintained classrooms right here in Ontario! To see some of these photos, click here. 

In the same tweet, Lecce asked people to retweet if they agreed that “#strikeshurtskids”. As a parent-led, non-partisan campaign focused on ensuring all Ontario’s publicly funded schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings, we felt compelled to share the following.

While we certainly feel that strikes hurt kids, we believe that what hurts kids far more is the chronic and gross provincial underfunding of our education system and schools that has gone on in Ontario for over two decades.

When we began our campaign in 2014, annual provincial funding for school repairs was a mere $150-million, even though industry standards suggest the bare minimum required was $1.4-billion. Yes – our provincial government provided ONE-TENTH of what was needed to keep our children’s school buildings safe, healthy and well-maintained. While provincial funding has drastically increased since 2014 and now sits at the recommended $1.4-billion/year, this new level of funding has done little to address the massive pit of disrepair that accumulated over the two decades when provincial funding was grossly and chronically inadequate.

In fact, in October 2017, when the provincial government last released disrepair data, overall disrepair sat at $15.9-billion and this past fall, we learned that the total disrepair in Ontario’s schools has actually grown to $16.3-billion. It is worth noting that the the Mike Harris PC government bequeathed $5.6-billion of disrepair in Ontario’s schools to the Liberals, who then allowed this number to triple to $15.9-billion in October 2017. So the tradition of chronic and gross provincial underfunding for education and schools is a long one in this province – and one that we believe hurts kids far more than rotating strikes and, if we can be so bold, might just be the underlying root cause of these rotating strikes.

In the same January 10th tweet, Minister Lecce states that “Unions should not prevent student learning”.  As a parent-led, non-partisan campaign focused on public schools as critical infrastructure, we would emphasize that poor learning conditions prevent student learning and that there are also many other consequences of poor school conditions.

 

In fact, as per a report entitled, “Healthy School Environment and Enhanced Educational Performance” by Dr. Michael Berry, there is evidence to suggest that when a school building is in disrepair, teaching and student achievement suffers. Conversely, Berry proposes that there is evidence to suggest that “environmental conditions that create a sense of ‘well-being’ and send a ‘caring message’ contribute directly to positive attitudes and elevated performance as measured by fewer health complaints, improved student attendance, teacher retention, and higher test scores.” 

So Minister Lecce, could you explain how the tradition of Ontario’s provincial government chronically and grossly underfunding our publicly funded schools helps student learning?

 

Corporate Income Taxes are Key

January 7, 2020

As a new decade begins, Fix Our Schools wants to focus on the big picture of how we can achieve the goal of ensuring that all publicly funded schools in Ontario are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning and working. Realistically, more money is required to invest in the critical public infrastructure we call schools if we are to see this goal achieved.

To increase the amount of public money available to invest in public infrastructure, our provincial and federal government have a few options: 

  1. Raise our personal income taxes.
  2. Find “efficiencies”, which is often a euphemism for cutting services to its citizens.
  3. Increase corporate taxes from big companies.

 

So let’s take a look at why the third option outlined above might be the best way to ensure governments have more money to invest in infrastructure and, specifically, let’s consider the Toronto Star investigative report entitled, “The High Cost of Low Corporate Taxes“, by Marco Chown Oved, Toby A.A. Heaps and Michael Yow. We’ve laid out some of the key points from the report to highlight why governments really ought to be considering corporate taxes as the key to being able to continue to invest in the public goods and services that citizens value.

  • “For every dollar corporations pay to the Canadian government in income tax, people pay $3.50. The proportion of the public budget funded by personal income taxes has never been greater.”
  • “The amount of tax most big companies in Canada pay has been dropping as a proportion of their profits for years, and not only because the corporate tax rate has been cut repeatedly. Canada’s largest corporations use complex techniques and tax loopholes to reduce their taxes significantly below the official corporate tax rate set by the government.”
  • “The financial filings of Canada’s 102 biggest corporations shows these companies have avoided paying $62.9 billion in income taxes (between 2011 and 2016)”.
  • “The 2011-2016 audited financial statements of all large Canadian corporations (those worth more than $2 billion) reveal they paid an average of 17.7 percent tax. During that time, the average official corporate tax rate in Canada for this group of companies was 26.6 percent. That 8.9 percent gap translates into tens of billions of dollars that could have been used to pay for the schools, roads, hospitals, police, and paramedics we all rely on.”
  • “In an average year, the 102 biggest companies in Canada pay $10.5 billion less than they would if they paid tax at the official corporate tax rate” of 26.6% (rather than taking advantage of tax loopholes). $10.5-billion could provide 1.2-million childcare spaces.
  • “The last year that corporations paid as much income tax as people was 1952. That year, the Canadian government was flush with money and used it to start setting up the social safety net with the establishment of the Old Age Security pension program. The private sector was also doing well, as corporate capital investments hit record levels and wages soared. The postwar boom was in full swing and the wealth was being enjoyed widely: Suburbs were exploding, schools and hospitals were built and new highways were laid down across the country.’
  • “Today (in 2016), Canada’s economy is the strongest in the G7, but municipal, provincial and federal governments have to borrow money every year, or dip into savings, to make ends meet. Inequality is at an all-time high. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer and public infrastructure — from transit to social housing — is failing and falling apart. While Canadian governments have trouble coming up with cash for public services, Canadian companies are rolling in dough.”
  • “Historically, businesses have argued that raising corporate tax will hurt investment. But StatsCan numbers show that drastic cuts to the corporate income tax rate over the last 20 years have not stimulated new business investment. Between 1997 to 2016, Canada’s corporate income tax rate was cut almost in half, from 43 percent to 26.7 percent. But investment in machinery and equipment and in intellectual property is still below the 1997 level as a percent of GDP.”
  • “Peter Nicholson, former Finance Canada deputy minister, says Canada has implemented a market-friendly tax rate but failed to reap the rewards in productivity and innovation.”
  • According to Gabriel Zucman, a Stanford University economist cited in the Toronto Star report, “Some countries, including Canada, have attempted to dramatically cut taxes on the wealthy and let corporate tax avoidance prosper. The result of these ‘trickle down’ policies which started in the 1980s is now clear: income and wealth have boomed for a tiny fraction of the population, but this has not benefitted the rest of the population at all. We must learn the lessons from this big natural experiment. The main lesson is that to have broad-based growth, we need an equitable tax system, where big corporations and high-earners in the financial industry and elsewhere pay their fair share.”

If Canadians agree that we want to continue to enjoy and perhaps even improve upon the public goods and services we have today, then we need to realistically consider how much funding is required and seriously consider looking at the role corporate taxes ought to play in contributing to public coffers.

2019: The Good, The Bad and The Confusing

December 31, 2019

‘Tis the season for reflecting on the year that is now drawing to a close. In that spirit, we’ve been considering how our provincial government has done in 2019 relative to achieving the vision of the Fix Our Schools campaign. Namely, what has our provincial government been doing in 2019 that would ensure that all of Ontario’s publicly funded schools are safe, healthy, well-maintained buildings that provide environments conducive to learning?

The Good 

  • Doug Ford’s first provincial budget maintained the $1.4-billion/year funding for school repairs and renewal via SCI and SRA funding.  As per industry standards and Ontario’s Auditor-General, the absolute minimum yearly funding to keep Ontario’s schools in a state of good repair is $1.4-billion. With $16.3-billion of disrepair assessed, Ontario’s schools are clearly not in a state of good repair. So, while Fix Our Schools was pleased to see the Ford government maintain the $1.4-billion/year funding level, we continue to advocate for the additional funding required to quickly eliminate the $16.3-billion of disrepair in Ontario’s schools.

The Bad

 

  • Despite the fact that 58 MPPs in this province signed the Fix Our Schools Pledge during the provincial election, committing to developing a standard of good repair for our schools and to allocating the required funding to achieve these standards, we’ve heard nothing about this topic even being considered as yet. School conditions are important. Research clearly demonstrates that they impact student learning, achievement, health and attendance. With $16.3-billion of disrepair, Ontario’s schools are not providing appropriate learning conditions for many students. Without a standard in place, this will not change. Ontario’s students deserve better and we must work towards developing and implementing a standard of good repair for our publicly funded schools.

The Confusing

  • Education Minister Lecce’s numbers don’t add up. This July press release indicates that the provincial government is investing $13-billion in capital grants for schools and that this funding will build new schools and help existing schools replace aging heating or air conditioning systems, repair roofs and windows, and install important accessibility features like elevators and ramps. However, $13-billion over 10 years – even if this investment was only for repairs and renewal – is a cut of $1-billion in SCI and SRA funding over 10 years. However, Doug Ford’s tweet in August seems to indicate that this goverment is going to commit $13-billion to building new schools in the coming 10 years and, on top of that, will commit to $1.4-billion/year for repairs and renewal. We’re confused!

 

Minister Lecce’s Numbers Don’t Add Up

December 17, 2019

Fix Our Schools co-founder Krista Wylie was interviewed by Press Progress this week about the inconsistent numbers being used by Education Minister Stephen Lecce, when it comes to his government’s commitment to funding school repairs, renewal and builds.

 

The following article, entitled “Questions Remain About the Ford Government’s School Repair Funding” raises some concerning disconnects on the figures being bandied about by Minister Lecce and Premier Ford about their funding commitment to ensuring Ontario’s publicly funded schools are safe, healthy and well-maintained.

Questions Remain About the Ford Government’s School Repair Funding

While the Ford government continued the previous government’s school repair and renewal funding for the 2019-20 year, its 10-year pledge is lower than previous ones and less than what’s needed to address disrepair in Ontario’s school system, critics say.

Facing resistance from parents and educators over plans to raise class sizes and cut education funding, the Ford government frequently cites school capital funding as proof it’s “committed” to education.

Last week, for example, Education Minister Stephen Lecce told the legislature:

The Premier has demonstrated a firm commitment to improving education by putting more money in the system than ever before. He’s committed to that, because we’ve doubled the mental health envelope in this province. We’ve invested more to improve schools—a $550-million renewal to build new schools and improve existing schools.

And, on Nov. 7 the minister said:

It is this government that is investing over $13 billion over the next decade to improve schools

But, the minister also said on Nov. 7:

What I also made clear is that we’re maintaining a $1.4-billion allocation to maintain our schools. After 15 years of dereliction of duty, where we had a multi-billion-dollar backlog that we inherited, we must do more to improve our schools.

The government’s pledges have been uneven.

For example, if the government were to continue spending $1.4 billion per year, as it did in 2019-20, on “funding to support the repair and renewal of school facilities,” it would seemingly come to a ten-year total of $14 billion — not $13 billion.

Krista Wylie, Fix Our Schools Campaign Co-Founder, told PressProgress that also falls short of the previous government’s commitment of $16 billion, over ten years, to renewals, repairs and new builds. “The $13 billion target is a $3 billion cut from what the Liberals promised. And even if you don’t include new school building in that $16 billion amount, it is still less than $1.4 billion per year.”

Wylie said, further, “the representatives of the government we spoke to were not able to give us a good explanation for that. Their finance and accounting folks said they could not say more than $13 billion — because that’s all there was allocated.”

Economist Hugh Mackenzie told PressProgress “It is a cut relative to the previous plan. And that, in turn, falls far short of what would be needed to address the school condition problem.”

The current backlog for school repairs reportedly sits around $16.3 billion. Mackenzie said “ongoing depreciation means that renewal expenditures equal to between 2% and 4% of the value of the buildings will be required annually. And those expenditures will be required, even if the current maintenance backlog were somehow eliminated. ”

On Nov. 6, Lecce told the legislature the government has committed to a “2.5% allocation when it comes to renewal.”

Asked by PressProgress if the government is committed to maintaining its current $1.4 billion annual investment, or the previous government’s $16 billion commitment, or the $16.3 billion estimated repair backlog, the ministry of education did not respond.