Tag Archives: TDSB

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.

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.

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

Write a letter to Premier Wynne and Minister Sandals

April 25, 2015

On April 24, Fix Our Schools launched a letter writing campaign to send a clear message to Premier Wynne and MInister Sandals that funding solutions must be found to address the urgent issues that impact 246,000 students and their families.

The full body of the letter being sent is below and if you have found your way to this page and would like to send a letter, please click here:

Dear Premier Wynne, Minister Sandals, Deputy Minister Zegarac,

While governance of school boards is important, funding of school boards is even more important in resolving the issues that impact students’ daily safety, wellbeing, and ability to learn. The TDSB Governance Advisory Panel consultations exclude discussion of funding and, as such, delay the pursuit of funding solutions to urgent issues such as the $3.3-billion repair backlog, cuts to special education and overcrowding at 146 TDSB schools.

TDSB Governance consultations also exclude the Province’s role in governance, even though the Province has power over both the money and major policy decisions. In refusing to take any responsibility, your government is undermining public confidence in the TDSB. As such, will you please:

1. Start working with the TDSB and the City of Toronto to find funding solutions to resolve key issues such as the $3.3-billion TDSB repair backlog?

2. Start fulfilling your stated mandate of using schools as community hubs and acknowledge that selling off public schools is an incomplete funding solution to the $3.3-billion repair backlog and could be shortsighted? *Even if the TDSB were to immediately sell all 130 schools operating below 65% utilization (as per provincial calculations), there would be over $1-billion of repairs in the remaining 458 schools.

3. Release emergency funding immediately to repair all leaking roofs and complete every “urgent” repair currently outstanding at TDSB schools to ensure children attend school in safe, well-maintained buildings?

4. Commit that any recommendations from the TDSB Governance Panel concerning board reorganization, such as splitting up the TDSB into smaller boards, will not delay the Province’s pursuit of funding to the above-noted problems?

There are $14.7-billion in capital repairs needed right now in public schools across Ontario. The $11-billion your government plans to allocate over the next 10 years to building new schools and making capital repairs is grossly insufficient to address the current state of disrepair in public schools. Given the $14.7-billion capital repair backlog in Ontario’s public schools, the $248-million that was noted as a decrease in education sector expense in yesterday’s budget surely ought to have been used towards ensuring the two million children in Ontario who attend public schools learn in safe, well-maintained buildings.

Kind regards,

Your Name

Your Address

$14.7-billion repair backlog in public schools across Ontario

April 21, 2015

The TDSB has 588 public school buildings and a $3.3-billion capital repair backlog in those buildings. The Province uses the terminology “$3.3-billion of assessed renewal needs”.

Across the 4900 schools in the 72 school boards across Ontario, there are $14.7-Billion of assessed renewal needs. In fact, every single Ontario school board has a repair backlog, which ranges from $7.4-million to the TDSB’s whopping $3.3-billion.

While the TDSB’s $3.3-billion repair backlog is certainly the largest in the province, you have likely never heard that province-wide, our public schools have a $14.7-billion repair backlog. You may be surprised to learn that Peel DSB has almost $1-billion in outstanding capital repairs, Ottawa-Carleton DSB has $743-million, Thames Valley DSB has $691-million and the Toronto Catholic School Board has $534-million. So public schools are in a state of disrepair across the province – not only in Toronto.

“Capital repair backlog” , “assessed renewal needs” and “outstanding capital repairs” are terms that can be used interchangeably and include many urgent repair items such as: fire suppression and alarm systems; electrical systems; heating/cooling systems; and structural issues. If these types of items fail before repairs can be done, there is a risk to student safety.

We are extrapolating data presented in this blog post from the following facts:

TDSB schools have $3.3-billion of assessed renewal needs as per the latest provincial data
According to slide 23 titled “School Condition Improvement” in the Ministry of Education’s technical briefing on funding for 2015-16, a total of $500-million is being provided to Ontario school boards for “School Condition Improvement” (SCI) and this SCI funding will be allocated in proportion to a school board’s total assessed renewal needs.
According to pages 8 & 9 in this Provincial memorandum, the TDSB will receive $112-million of the $500-million total in 2015-16, or 22.4% of the total SCI funding, which would indicate that the TDSB’s $3.3-billion repair backlog is 22.4% of the total repair backlog for all Ontario schools.
Therefore, using some algebra, we can determine each school board’s capital repair backlog and arrive at a total province-wide repair backlog in public schools of $14.7-billion.

What about TDSB schools that are OVER-capacity?

April 21, 2015

The TDSB and the Province agree that an optimum utilization rate for a school is around 85%.

The 130 TDSB schools operating below 65% utilization have been a hot topic of late. However, you may be surprised to learn that there are currently 146 TDSB schools that operate at 100% utilization or more. These overcapacity schools operate extremely efficiently, saving the Province heaps of money by spreading resources such as Administration salaries (an overcapacity school doesn’t get an additional Principal!) across more children. However, these highly “efficient” TDSB schools are not optimum learning environments.

Principals, Vice Principals and staff spend time and energy managing logistics rather than providing good leadership and teaching. In overcapacity schools, holding a school assembly or concert is like a military operation, lunchrooms and gymnasiums might be in use all day every day for a multitude of purposes, and if there is ever an issue in a classroom such as lack of heat or a broken water pipe, then that class of students might learn in a hallway for a few days while the repair is made since there are is no extra space in the school. A school operating over 100% has that much more dirt and litter for caretakers to clean and has that much more wear-and-tear to its facilities.

So while the “empty” schools are getting all the attention, students at 146 TDSB schools learn in an overcrowded environment. In addition to the unacceptable state of disrepair in TDSB schools, this overcrowding is yet another issue that must be addressed to ensure the safety and well being of children.

246,000 TDSB students don’t need a governance panel

April 13, 2015

The provincially led TDSB Governance Panel is simply a distraction from the more urgent issue of inadequate funding and will not address the issues that actually matter to parents such as:

the $3.3-billion TDSB repair backlog
potential school closures
cuts to special education
overcrowding at 146 TDSB schools (although you never hear about this in the media, there are actually more overutilzed TDSB schools (operating at 100%+) than “underutilized” TDSB schools.

What would address these issues is if Kathleen Wynne’s government were to take responsibility, as the sole funder of public education in this province, and start working with the TDSB to find funding solutions to these massive problems. Instead, this provincial panel seems to place all blame on the TDSB, which only serves to undermine public confidence in Canada’s largest school board and does nothing to help 246,000 TDSB students and their families.

Fix Our Schools sent a Letter to Premier Wynne and Minister Sandals urging their government to stop blaming the TDSB and start working with the TDSB (and the City!) to find funding solutions to resolve the issues that actually matter to people in Toronto.

Over 20 years to fix our schools at this rate

March 31, 2015

The provincial government has allocated more money to the TDSB to fix its schools than it has in previous years and Fix Our Schools has been given some credit for this move! The TDSB will receive $112-million for “school condition renewal” in 2015-16. This represents a significant increase from the $29-million the TDSB received from Kathleen Wynne’s government this school year and, perhaps, is a small acknowledgment of past underfunding.

So, funding for fixing TDSB schools is heading in the right direction. If we take the $112-million being provided via the Grant for School Condition Improvement and add this to the expected $45.5-million being provided via the annual grant for school renewal, we are looking at a total of $157.5-million/year for the TDSB to fix its schools.

However, at this new level of funding, the current $3.3-billion repair backlog (recently revised from $3-billion based on provincial data) plaguing TDSB schools would take almost 21 years to address. And this, of course, assumes that nothing else goes wrong in a TDSB school for the next two decades. The truth, of course, is that the longer we take to address these repairs, the more complicated and costly they become so we seem to be in a conundrum of never getting ahead of this massive repair backlog.

So while we are thrilled that the provincial government has allocated more money this coming year for the TDSB to fix its schools, we are disappointed that Kathleen Wynne’s government refuses to take accountability for finding a complete funding solution to this massive issue that impacts 247,000 students.

Public Schools in same pickle as Toronto Community Housing

March 31, 2015

While reading this blog post, please keep in mind that Toronto Public Schools are facing an eerily similar challenge to that being faced by Toronto Community Housing. There is a $3-billion repair backlog plaguing TDSB schools that must be addressed immediately. However, the provincial government – the sole funder of public schools in Ontario – refuses to take accountability for this massive issue. As you read the remainder of this blog post, keep in mind that the combined repairs needed in TDSB schools and in Toronto Community Housing units exceeds $10-billion. We are on a scary trajectory if these billions of dollars of repairs aren’t addressed – and soon.

On March 30, John Tory and Toronto Community Housing revealed a plan to address the $1.7-billion of additional funding required to address the $7.5-billion of repairs required in Toronto’s Community Housing units over the next 30 years. This plan’s success hinges on the federal and provincial governments funding a large part of these repairs. In his column in the Star, Edward Keenan suggests this is unlikely. He estimates that for the City to take on the additional $1.7-billion required for repairs would require a dedicated property tax increase of 3% for the next 30 years.

Keenan agrees with John Tory’s argument that “the moral and business cases illustrated by this study make a bullet-proof case for why the Ontario and federal governments should invest now to repair housing.” However, Keenan points out that while the moral and business cases for supporting social housing have been clear for a long time, higher levels of government have continued to download responsibility and accountability for this important public good.

Keenan suggests that if Torontonians do not take on the responsibility to fund these repairs and the higher levels of government also refuse, then Toronto Community Housing units will crumble around the existing tenants, many units will be closed as they become uninhabitable and those tenants will be forced into a private housing market where they might become homeless.

Toronto Public Schools are in the same predicament. Schools are starting to crumble around students and teachers. Will we close schools as they become uninhabitable and force parents to send their children to private schools? Ideally, the province and feds need to step up and start funding public schools as an integral part of our public infrastructure. The province, in particular, which holds all the power over funding at the moment, must start working with the TDSB and the City to figure out funding solutions to ensure that students attend school in safe, well-maintained buildings. While heartening to see the City so engaged in these issues, it is equally disheartening to see Kathleen Wynne’s government so disengaged in real discussions on funding.