What Does Surplus School Space Really Mean?
The Ontario government passed Bill 98, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, in June, 2023.
Under the pillar “Maximizing Capital Assets”, the government will establish a regulatory framework “for property not needed by school boards to meet current or future pupil accommodation needs.” Specific regulations about how the government will control school board property sales are still to come.
In its May 2023 submission to the government, the Ontario Public School Boards Association (OPSBA) indicated concerns that Bill 98 will eliminate local control of school boards to maintain properties identified by the government as unnecessary for student learning.
An August 3, 2023 Globe and Mail Article outlines how the provincial government is using Bill 98 to reinforce its housing policy, with the looming sale of “surplus” school board properties to private developers. “The Ford government is going places no one anticipated it would venture, all in the name of addressing the province’s urgent need for housing. It is allowing development on 3,000 hectares of the Greenbelt, breaking a promise to permanently protect farmland, forests and wetlands around the greater Toronto area. It is also using an unprecedented number of minister’s zoning orders to allow property developers to bypass local planning processes. School lands are the next frontier.”
The Need for a New and Larger Vision
Bill 98 has become a litmus test for the continued existence of Ontario (and Canadian) school boards. By proxy, the need for school boards is being challenged by claims they are impeding the larger policy directions of the province. In response, the OPSBA is emphasizing the value that school boards provide as a vital service to the unique needs of the local communities they serve. On both fronts, the value and liabilities of school boards via Bill 98 are being assessed only in relation to longstanding provincial education system structures and practices. A new and larger vision is necessary.
In keeping with the Education Act of Ontario, school districts in Ontario are responsible for, among other things, “providing education programs that meet the needs of the school community”. How we interpret “the school community” now requires a full appreciation of the effort necessary for community adaptation and mitigation, increasingly evidenced by the impact of climate change.
The scientifically developed recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reinforce the need for new approaches to link schools with community development. “Climate resilient development is facilitated by international cooperation and by governments at all levels working with communities, civil society, educational bodies, scientific and other institutions, media investors and businesses and by developing partnerships with traditionally marginalised groups, including women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, local communities and ethnic minorities (high confidence). These partnerships are most effective when supported by enabling political leadership, institutions, resources, including finance, as well as climate services, information and decision support tools”.
SPM D.2 of the IPCC report on the impacts, adaptation and vulnerability of climate change, 2022
A Foundation to Move Forward
Addressing the imminent and significant change effort before us requires a reinterpretation and re-evaluation of the pillars that currently drive school district operations in Ontario and Canada. (Canada is the only G-7 country without a national education strategy.)
In the context of Bill 98, acknowledging the following truths can assist a foundation to move forward:
1. The premise behind the government’s intention to access more land for housing conflicts with the recommendations of the Task Force Report on Housing Affordability that was commissioned by the government in January 2022, prior to Bill 23 - the More Homes Built Faster Act.
The Alliance For a Liveable Ontario has also confirmed that enough surplus land exists to accommodate housing strategies by comprehensively addressing who needs what and where.
2. The climate emergency is a scientifically proven phenomenon that requires an urgent commitment to school facility upgrades; not just for students directly, but for overall community adaptation and development.
3. The definition of “surplus” school space is currently based upon operational constructs introduced in 1998 with per-pupil funding for the purpose of government transfer payments to Ontario school boards. New methodologies to define surplus school space are necessary to promote a more effective working relationships with community organizations.
4. There is currently a backlog of $16B in capital upgrades necessary for Ontario schools. When surplus school space is made available for housing or other purposes, proceeds from those sales should be allocated towards local school upgrades.
Public Awareness Grounded by Modeling
Responses to the Globe and Mail article suggest there is a common misperception that “surplus” school space represents the mismanagement of properties by school boards. In actuality, per-pupil funding requires school boards to align with continually changing transfer payments based upon an antiquated alignment of school operations with traditional classroom pupil loadings.
Climate adaptation requires new funding commitments for school facility operations to address newly relevant student, family and community needs at large. This must, among other policy issues, account for alternatives to current methodologies used to calculate surplus school space.
Alternative constructs can be developed to define how much “surplus” space schools have in order to guide local and provincial policy. Operational models can assist and engage a deeper consideration of schools in the local development of community adaptation plans. A public awareness coalition of school boards, community organizations, students, parents and the general public can reframe the conversation to ensure a vibrant future for community schools through climate adaptation.
Phil Dawes, August, 2023