Ontario has agreed to a federal plan to allocate approximately $41-million for energy-efficient retrofits to Ontario’s elementary and secondary schools. According to the technical paper detailing Ontario’s most recent budget for 2019-20, our provincial government has committed $1.4-billion in funding for school renewal and repairs as per the following allocations:

• School Renewal Allocation (SRA), which addresses the costs of repairing and renovating schools, is projected to be $363.3-million 
• An additional $40-million to the SRA Allocation for expenditures that are capital in nature
• School Condition Improvement (SCI) to help school boards address the identified renewal backlog from the data collected via the Ministry’s Condition Assessment Program, is going to be $1-billion

So Fix Our Schools is excited that, with the expected additional $40-million from the federal Climate Action Incentive Fund, total funding for school repair and renewal for Ontario’s publicly funded schools will be $1.44-billion for 2019-20. Every little bit of funding can make a big difference for our local schools!

Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna poses for a photo during a Climate LeadersÕ Summit in Chelsea, Que., on Thursday, May 17, 2018. iPolitics/Matthew Usherwood

Interested in more details on the Climate Action Incentive Fund?

On June 25, 2019, Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, announced a new proposed climate action program to support energy-efficient retrofits for schools in the four provinces that don’t have an emissions-based levy that is on par with the federal government’s. In Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick, the federal carbon tax was put into action at the start of 2019. All revenues collected by the federal government as part of this carbon tax must be returned to the province from which the money is collected:

• 90% of collected carbon tax monies will be directly returned to consumers via an offsetting tax rebate
• 10% of collected carbon tax monies will be dedicated to helping municipalities, hospitals, universities, schools and small-medium sized businesses become more energy-efficient.

For this coming year, the federal government decided that 3% of carbon tax monies collected (an estimated $60-million) would go to Ontario, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Manitoba for energy-efficient retrofits in public schools. For instance, replacing old windows that result in a lot of drafts in classrooms. Ontario’s share of the $60-million would be $41-million.

The Government of Canada will work closely with provinces to deliver funding to schools. Schools and school boards interested in participating in the proposed program are encouraged to contact their provincial governments for more details on how to apply.