Some teachers from Toronto are organizing this Rally and we wanted to invite all members of Fix Our Schools to attend. This is one way to demonstrate to the Ford government that safe, healthy, well-maintained schools are a priority!

Here are the details:

WHAT:
Calling all education workers, parents, labour affiliates, community partners and allies of public education to a MASS RALLY.

WHEN:
Wednesday, February 27th at 5:00pm.

WHERE:
Outside the 2019 PC Leaders‘ Dinner Event at the Toronto Congress Centre – 650 Dixon Rd., Etobicoke. 

WHY:
Premier Ford’s assault on public education in declaring a strip of 4% from education by removing class caps, dismantling full-day kindergarten as we know it and slashing millions from critical programming is beyond reprehensible. Please mark this rally in your calendars and share widely with your networks. Further details to follow soon. Track updates on Facebook!

Dear MPP Hogarth,

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

Did you know there is $151.8-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Etobicoke-Lakeshore? 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 Etobicoke-Lakeshore:

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

We thank you for signing the Fix Our Schools Pledge leading up to the June 2018 provincial election and ask that you please take steps 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. We look forward to hearing back from you with details on your plan to Fix Ontario’s Schools.

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. 

Dear MPP Mamakwa,

Did you know there is $56.3-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Kiiwetinoong? 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 Kiiwetinoong:

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

We ask that you please take steps 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. We look forward to hearing back from you with details on your plan to Fix Ontario’s Schools.

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. 

1. Find out who your local MPP is by visiting Elections Ontario and entering your postal code on the bottom centre of the home page in the section called Voter Information Service. This will lead you to your local MPP name and contact information.
2. Contact your local MPP. You can email them, call them (even if you call after hours and leave a voicemail – in numbers, this can get their attention!), or set up a meeting with them to discuss issues in-person. Please do this as soon as possible so that your voice is heard before the Spring provincial budget is finalized. 
3. Contact Premier Ford and Education Minister Thompson as well. If they are your local MPP’s, then please use the Elections Ontario site in bullet one above to find their constituency contact information. Otherwise, please call Premier Ford at 416-325-1941 and email him at doug.ford@pc.ola.org and please call Minister Thompson at 416-325-2600 and email her at lisa.thompson@pc.ola.org.
4. We’ve developed the following ASKS relative to Fixing Ontario Schools that you can simply print out and give/send to your MPP, the Premier and the Education Minister.

Asks for your Local MPP, Premier Ford & Education Minister Thompson: 

• Provide adequate and stable funding to school boards.
• Develop a standard of good repair for all Ontario’s publicly funded schools.
  Continue to collect and publicly update the disrepair data for all Ontario’s publicly funded schools, adding portables to this process.
• Invest the additional $1.6-billion per year needed to eliminate the $15.9-billion repair backlog in schools within seven years.
• 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 our schools.

Your local MPP works for YOU directly. The Premier and the Education Minister also work for YOU. Please take advantage of the important opportunity we have in the coming weeks to ensure that our local MPPs, our Premier and our Education Minister all represent us well as the Spring Budget is developed!

Back in December, Fix Our Schools submitted this report as input to the annual pre-budget consultation process carried out by our provincial government, highlighting the need for this government to:

1. Provide adequate and stable funding to school boards.
2. Develop a standard of good repair for all Ontario’s publicly funded schools.
3. Continue to collect and publicly update the disrepair data for all Ontario’s publicly funded schools, adding portables to this process.
4. Invest the additional $1.6-billion per year needed to eliminate the $15.9-billion repair backlog in schools within seven years.
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 our schools.

On January 15, 2019, we had the opportunity to present to the Standing Committee of Finance & Economic Affairs. The official transcript of our presentation and subsequent questions from both NDP and PC members of this committee can be read HERE. This presentation served as a platform to further emphasize our asks above to the following members of this committee (or replacements for those unable to attend):

MPP Stephen Crawford – details of the $115.6-M of disrepair in Oakville Schools

MPP Jeremy Roberts – details of the $170.1-M of disrepair in Ottawa West-Nepean Schools

MPP Doug Downey – details of the $57.6-M of disrepair in Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte Schools

MPP Stan Cho – details of the $125-M of disrepair in Willowdale Schools

MPP Skelly – details of the $59.2-M of disrepair in Flamborough-Glanbrook Schools

MPP Shaw – details of the $144.7-M of disrepair in Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas Schools

MPP Marit Stiles – details of the $273.6-M of disrepair in Davenport Schools

Our hope is that our input will be considered seriously as this government develops the spring budget.

Dear MPP Arthur,

Did you know there is $122.9-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Kingston and the Islands? 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 Kingston and the Islands:

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

We ask that you please take steps 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. We look forward to hearing back from you with details on your plan to Fix Ontario’s Schools.

On January 7, 2019, Fix Our Schools had the opportunity to meet with Education Minister Thompson, who signed the Fix Our Schools Pledge leading up to the provincial election in June.

She seemed open to working with Fix Our Schools and genuinely concerned about the state of Ontario’s schools. We discussed the following asks and agreed to ongoing dialogue on each:

1) Ensure that the guiding principles of adequacy, affordability, equity, stability, flexibility, and accountability, as outlined in the 2002 Rozanski report, are followed in your government’s approach to funding public education.

2) Develop a standard of good repair for all of Ontario’s publicly funded schools.

3) Continue to collect and publicly release annual updates on school disrepair data; adding portables to this process.

4) Commit the additional $1.6-billion/year investment required to eliminate the $15.9-billion of disrepair in Ontario’s publicly funded schools in the coming seven years:

+ an additional $1.3 billion/year in renewal funding

+ an additional $100 million/year to cover amortized cost of rebuilding 346 schools

+ an additional $165 million/year for operational maintenance in schools

= AN ADDITIONAL $1.6 BILLION OF ANNUAL FUNDING until the $15.9 repair backlog is eliminated and the $1 billion of SCI funding can be redirected

Reactive repairs waste taxpayer money and the vast majority of repairs at schools are now reactive.  

5) Implement a new approach to school closures. 

6) Help us work with your Ministry to ensure the provincial government allocates a larger piece of the overall pie to publicly funded education.

Dear MPP Shaw,

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

Did you know there is $144.7-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas? 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 Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas:

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 election and ask that you help ensure the provincial government prioritizes 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. We look forward to hearing back from you with details on your plan to Fix Ontario’s Schools.

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. 

Dear MPP Skelly,

Did you know there is $59.2-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Flamborough-Glanbrook? 

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 Flamborough-Glanbrook:

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

We ask that you and your government please prioritize schools as critical infrastructure and 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. We look forward to hearing back from you with details on your plan to Fix Ontario’s Schools.

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. 

Dear MPP Cho,

Did you know there is $125-million of disrepair in the publicly funded schools in your riding of Willowdale? 

In 2018 MPP Cho 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 Willowdale:

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 election and ask that you ensure your government prioritizes 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. We look forward to hearing back from you with details on your plan to Fix Ontario’s Schools.

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.