Art Eggleton admits funding key issue in repairing Toronto community housing

May 12, 2015

Former Toronto mayor and current Senator, Art Eggleton, was appointed by Toronto Mayor John Tory to lead a six-person task force to investigate issues facing Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC). When Senator Eggleton was interviewed on May 11 by Matt Galloway on Metro Morning, he candidly admitted that finding funding solutions was the key issue in making the $2.5-billion of repairs that must happen in the coming decade in TCHC housing units.

It is hard not to draw a comparison between the disrepair plaguing Toronto Community Housing that found in Toronto public schools. The TDSB alone faces a $3.3-billion repair backlog that is estimated will grow to $4.36-billion by 2017, given the current level of provincial funding.

However, the similarities end when we compare Art Eggleton’s TCHC Task Force with that of Barbara Hall, who is leading the latest TDSB task force – this one charged with investigating TDSB governance. Unlike Art Eggleton, the TDSB Governance Panel will not acknowledge that funding is a key issue for the TDSB and ignores the role the Province plays in the overall governance model for public education in this province. Maybe 246,000 students and their families would have been better served by Senator Art Eggleton’s approach? Only time will tell I suppose, as we track the state of disrepair in Toronto Community Housing along with that of Toronto’s public schools.

Per-student repair backlog makes urgency clear

May 12, 2015

All 72 Ontario school boards currently have a repair backlog, ranging from $7.4-million at Huron-Perth CDSB to $3.3-billion at the TDSB. On a per-student basis, the TDSB’s repair backlog breaks down to over $13,000/student. Ottawa-Carleton DSB, Thames Valley DSB and Greater Essex County DSB aren’t far behind with a repair backlog per-student of approximately $10,000 in each of these three Ontario school boards.

Issued in October 2014, “Reversing the Cycle of Deterioration in the Nation’s Public School Buildings” is a report on the impact of deferred maintenance in American public school buildings. It reveals that, as of 2010, the average repair backlog per-student in American schools was $4,883 and that this reflected a situation in need of serious and immediate attention.

We’ve cited 4 school boards in Ontario that currently face a per student repair backlog more than double the American average. Kathleen Wynne – are you there? Your government must acknowledge this situation is unacceptable and untenable. Finding funding solutions to fix our schools deserves a place on your government’s agenda!

What funding is needed to maintain our schools?

May 12, 2015

In October 2014, a report studying the impact of deferred maintenance in American schools found that, “…school districts, financially squeezed over long periods of time, made economic decisions that reduced the most cost-effective types of maintenance work. The results of those decisions to ‘save money’ will, in the long term, actually increase the amount of frequency of much more expensive breakdown repair and replacement work.”

The TDSB is living this reality at the moment, as is evidenced by a May 2015 Staff Report on the TDSB’s Renewal Needs Backlog. With a current repair backlog of $3.3-billion and provincial funding totalling only $74.9-million in 2014-15 and $156-million in 2015-16, the repair backlog is expected to grow to $4.36-billion by 2017. In an environment where the TDSB is receiving a fraction of the money needed to address its repair backlog, TDSB Facilities Services staff is unable to carry out much preventative maintenance because it is consumed with reacting to emergency repairs as these occur. The report referenced above, entitled, “Reversing the Cycle of Deterioration in the Nation’s Public School Buildings”, (RCD) found that reactive work orders cost approximately 173% more to implement than preventative maintenance work orders.

The RCD report suggests that between 2-4% of the total replacement value of all schools needs to be allocated annually for maintenance, if buildings are to be kept in a good state of repair. The replacement value of TDSB schools is estimated to be $7.4-billion, as calculated by the Ministry of Education. If an amount totalling 3% of this total replacement value were allocated annually to take care of maintaining TDSB buildings, that amount would be $222-million. Keep in mind, that this amount does not address any existing repair backlog due to deferred maintenance – only year-to-year routine maintenance.

So at the TDSB, we have a situation where funding must be found to address the $3-3-billion repair backlog that is expected to grow to $4.36-billion by 2017. As well, additional funding must be found to simply take care of the routine maintenance associated with taking care of TDSB school buildings each year. Given the Provincial allocation of $74.9-million this year is $147.1-million short of what is required and that amount is also meant to take care of the repair backlog, we have a big problem on our hands.

TDSB allowed to submit same eight proposals as all school boards

May 12, 2015

The intent of the provincial funding formula for public education is to ensure all students in Ontario are treated equitably. However, sometimes treating school boards and students the same doesn’t translate into treating them equitably.

For instance, consider how the Province determines approval and funding of building new schools and building additions on existing schools. Each of Ontario’s 72 school boards, regardless of size, is permitted to submit to the Ministry of Education eight proposals for new building projects. The TDSB is the largest school board in Canada, with 246,000 students and 588 school buildings. Almost one-quarter of its buildings operate at 100% utilization or greater, meaning that 146 TDSB schools are crowded and provide sub-optimal learning environments. However, with a process that treats the TDSB the exact same as Peel DSB, the second largest school board in Ontario with 246 schools and 154,000 students, and Huron-Perth CDSB, the smallest school board in Ontario with 18 schools and 4,000 students, it begs the question whether all students and school boards are treated equitably if they are treated the same.

Addressing crowded TDSB schools calls for out-of-the-box solutions

May 6, 2015

146 TDSB schools operate at 100% utilization or greater, where classrooms and outdoor play spaces are crowded. Kew Beach Junior Public School, for example, operates at 143% utilization. The Principal at this school says that student injuries have become commonplace and kindergarten students aren’t allowed outside at lunch time for safety reasons. To address the crowded school yard at Kew Beach Junior Public School, a land deal has been struck between the TDSB and the City of Toronto, which owns a 1.5 hectare park adjacent to Kew Beach Public School.

Some community members are upset about being deprived a public park for part of the day. However, the TDSB does not receive significant funding from the Province for alleviating overcrowding in schools and schoolyards, since provincial utilization rates show that there are spaces available at TDSB schools (even if those spaces aren’t located nearby the overcrowded schools!). Hence, this “out-of-the-box” solution has been created, which provides a safer schoolyard for Kew Beach students but prevents local residents from accessing their local park during school hours. The province says outside-the-box solutions shouldn’t be necessary. However, Kew Beach is the latest school to disagree.

As local City Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon said, “The TDSB is under the gun” and “we’ve just got to get into the mentality and state of mind of sharing.” Despite the Province’s opinion, “out-of-the-box” solutions for dealing with space pressures will likely become more common.

Selling under-utilized schools to generate funding is a long, complicated process

May 5, 2015

A year ago, the TDSB declared Bloor Collegiate Institute and Kent Senior Public School, both located on three hectares of land at the corner of Bloor and Dufferin, to be surplus. The Toronto Catholic District School Board made an offer last April, 2014 to buy these two TDSB properties. However, as of April 2015, Kathleen Wynne’s provincial government had not yet instructed the TDSB whether to accept or reject the Catholic school board’s offer. Odd that when the Province is pressuring the TDSB to sell under-utilized properties to generate funding, the Province’s response wouldn’t be more timely?

Meanwhile, in March 2015, Kathleen Wynne launched a Community Hubs Advisory Group, led by Karen Pitre. By April 2015, in the absence of direction from Province, the TDSB placed a hold on plans to sell the two schools and is, instead, going to investigate using these schools to create a community hub. The hope is that partners come with funding and that this scenario can be used as a model for the the Province, City and school boards to develop additional community hubs. While this decision to pursue using these schools as community hubs seems to align with Kathleen Wynne’s stated mandate to create community hubs, there appears to be no firm statement of support for this decision from the Minister of Education, with spokesperson Nilani Logeswaran saying only that, “the ministry is aware of the conversation the board has started and is awaiting the outcome“. And, even as the TDSB pursues a solution that aligns with Kathleen Wynne’s mandate of community hubs – you can bet that no exception in the utilization rate calculations has been extended to the TDSB for these properties and so, Bloor Collegiate Institute and Kent Senior Public School continue to count against the TDSB as “empty space”.

All this to say that the Province’s suggested solution that the TDSB must sell under-utilized schools to generate money to repair schools is fairly complicated and takes a long time! Meanwhile, a $3.3-billion repair backlog is getting larger with each day that passes.

School building conditions matter

May 5, 2015

The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) recently released a fascinating report called “School Environment Impact: Research Study”, summarizing research that has been conducted on the relationship between student performance and school maintenance/cleanliness.

Not surprisingly, a link between the condition of a school building and the achievement of its students was noted and is being seen in a growing body of research. While most of this research comes from the United States, surely we can easily apply these findings to our Ontario public schools and students?

One particularly interesting study cited in the OSSTF report is entitled, “Healthy Schools are Clean, Dry, and Productive”, by Dr. Michael Berry. Berry states that: “a school’s interior climate, appearance, and cleanliness send either a positive or negative message to students, teachers, and staff. Emerging evidence suggests 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.”

Berry also states that “schools are high activity environments that need constant attention in the form of cleaning, maintenance, and repair.” Berry indicates that maintaining the condition of the school is a necessary and cost effective way of improving student performance, stating that: “there is growing evidence that when a school building is in disrepair, teaching and student achievement suffers; the school environment works against the educational process. Public school systems too often elect to postpone repairs and delay construction of new facilities to divert money during periods of financial austerity. Making cuts in roof repair, maintenance, and cleaning is mistakenly considered less devastating than slashing academic programs.”

The OSSTF report cites many other research studies and the consistent finding is that the condition of our children’s schools matters. So if school conditions impact student achievement, why has Kathleen Wynne’s government allowed $14.7-billion of outstanding large repairs accumulate in public schools across the province?

NDP and PC education critics agree we need to fix our schools

May 4, 2015

Fix Our Schools met with both NDP Education Critic Lisa Gretzky and PC Education Critic Garfield Dunlop in recent weeks. Both education critics agreed the $14.7-billion issue of disrepair in public schools affects students and families across the province and must be addressed.

Lisa Gretzky recollected a school’s gym ceiling falling in during her tenure as a School Board Trustee in Windsor. Luckily, no students were injured in this incident but it underscores the importance of keeping public schools in a state of good repair.

The health, safety and achievement of students is impacted by the outstanding repairs and maintenance plaguing Ontario’s public schools.

Promoting Fix Our Schools made easy

April 27, 2015

If you believe that a large group of connected people all asking for safe, well-maintained schools can be a powerful mechanism for change, then please help Fix Our Schools grow to 1,000 subscribers by June 25!

Here is a note that you could simply copy and paste into an email to send off to your networks and your school council:

SAMPLE EMAIL YOU COULD USE TO PROMOTE FIX OUR SCHOOLS:

If you are frustrated by the disrepair in our children’s schools, you may be interested in the parent-led grassroots campaign called Fix Our Schools (www.fixourschools.ca) that is focused on addressing the $3.3-Billion repair backlog in TDSB schools. I hope you will check out their website and consider joining the Fix Our Schools mailing list to stay informed and find out how you can help. Visit: www.fixourschools.ca/joinus/ to subscribe and you can also find Fix Our Schools on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fixtdsbschools?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

Since launching on Oct. 29, 2014, Fix Our Schools has built a subscriber list of over 500 people across Toronto and aims to grow this to 1000 by June in an effort to create a large, connected group of people all asking for the same thing:

safe, well-maintained schools (who can argue with that?)
public schools funded as an integral part of our public infrastructure – on par with roads, transit and healthcare

Here is a one-page document that outlines more about the Fix Our Schools campaign and here is a sample e-newsletter from Fix Our Schools: http://us9.campaign-archive1.com/?u=33ed0a98313433d8705b1afd3&id=1ccc43618a&e=22a5b0472a so you have a sense of what you’ll be receiving when you sign up at: www.fixourschools.ca/joinus/ . Please share this email with other people in your networks!

Thanks for you help,

Minister Sandals & Barbara Hall both respond on April 22

April 25, 2015

Fix Our Schools received this letter from Liz Sandals in response to our letter of April_13.

We received an email from Barbara Hall, Chair of the TDSB Governance Panel, on the same date as the letter from Liz Sandals, which read:

Hello,

Thanks for your message, and for participating in the consultations on the TDSB. Our mandate was set by Minister Sandals, and it is to consult with the public and make recommendations to the Minister with respect to possible structural and governance changes within the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). We will also explore the impact potential governance structures may have on operational decision-making at the TDSB for the Minister’s consideration.

Provincial funding for education is not in scope for the panel’s work. As you know, Margaret Wilson recently wrote a report to the Minister in which she expressed serious concerns about the culture of the board. In her report, Margaret Wilson identified that the TDSB, as a whole, has not worked effectively together to act in the interests of all students of the board. Effective, transparent, and accountable governance is essential to the success and well-being of students, and our panel is focused on making recommendations to the Minister that she will consider to help the TDSB move forward.

We are consulting with the TDSB community – with parents, students, staff, trustees and other community members – to hear the best ideas and advice on how decision-making at the TDSB can be improved.

Regards,

Barbara Hall

Barbara Hall’s email was in response to our email of April 14, 2015:

Hello Barbara, Richard, Briony, Vicki, Patrick, Shirley, and Jennifer –

After attending last night’s consultation, I am writing on behalf of the Fix Our Schools campaign to urge you to please include the topics of funding and the Provincial government’s role in governance in the remainder of the TDSB Governance Advisory Panel consultations. It has come to our attention today that this panel has the authority to expand the discussion to include these important topics.

The definition of governance given at the first consultation was: PROCESS FOR MAKING AND IMPLEMENTING DECISIONS. Nobody can argue that it is much easier to make and implement good decisions when a group has sufficient resources. Whereas if that same group faces continued scarcity, making and implementing good decisions becomes increasingly more difficult. The majority of participants last night expressed that having a real conversation about governance without including funding and the Province’s role as the sole funder of public education with power over policy decisions was nearly impossible and seemed disingenuous and blame-based, rather than solution-oriented.

So again, the concern is that the work of this Panel will not benefit 246,000 TDSB students and their families because it won’t address the issues that actually matter to parents such as:

– unacceptable state of schools, as reflected in the $3.3-billion repair backlog

– cuts to special education

– potential school closures

– overcrowding at 146 TDSB schools, which operate at 100% utilization or more

With a professional PR firm fully engaged, this consultation will easily cost taxpayers in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. If these consultations seemed solution-oriented and included a real focus on seeing the Province work with the TDSB to find solutions to the massive issues facing the TDSB, they would be a good use of money. Who knows? Maybe the panel would even hear feedback that citizens of Toronto would be willing to pay a local education tax to improve public schools! However, this panel, as it currently stands, is poised to be simply a distraction from addressing real issues.

Yesterday, with the understanding that the Provincial government had authority over the scope of discussion for these consultations, we sent the attached letter. However, with our new understanding that the people on this panel can choose to expand the conversation, we are also writing you. I have cc’d all included on yesterday’s letter so they are aware that, with this new understanding, Fix Our Schools is also writing directly to the TDSB Governance Panel about expanding the topics included in consultations. Our letter to the Province still, of course, stands with the four requests outlined below.

Recognizing that the next public consultation is imminent, we look forward to hearing back from you soon confirming your authority over the scope of the discussion and on how you intend to integrate the feedback from last night’s session and move forward.

Kind regards,

Krista Wylie – On Behalf of Fix Our Schools