The clock is ticking on the Ministry of Education approving new school builds across Ontario, and with the Simcoe County public board’s enrolment steadily increasing, trustees are worried they won’t get funding approvals in time to keep up with growth.
During the Simcoe County District School Board’s business and facilities standing committee meeting on March 6, trustees were given updated enrolment information as of Oct. 31, 2023. According to those numbers, there are 57,090 students across 90 elementary and 16 secondary schools, an increase of one per cent, or 582 students over the previous year.
Orillia/Severn/Ramara trustee Jodi Lloyd said that over the past 10 years, enrolment at the public board has increased by about 10 per cent. Comparing October 2019 to October 2023, board-wide total enrolment has increased 6.5 per cent.
“It’s quite substantial, knowing we’re going to see even more students with all the new housing developments,” she said. “It puts an urgency on the capital projects we have to move forward.”
The public board submitted their updated list of capital priority projects by the province’s deadline of Oct. 20, 2023, with a new Angus elementary school topping their list this time around. At that time, the province said announcements about which projects would be approved would be made in the winter.
Five months later, school boards are still waiting on word from the province.
Trustee Donna Armstrong said the board would need to build four or five new schools by 2030 to keep up with enrolment growth.
“2030 is getting closer and closer. It’s going to be a difficult year if those schools aren’t built,” she said.
Lloyd noted during her talks in school board conference calls with the province, that the ministry is estimating notice of approvals will go out to boards by the end of March, but those approvals will not be made public until a later date at the province’s discretion.
She said that based on the call that went out in September 2023, the ministry received $9 billion in requests from school boards across Ontario. Over the past few years, the ministry has only given out $500 million in funding per call.
“I think they’re running out of time very quickly. I didn’t get the impression that those public announcement will come quickly,” said Lloyd. “We know they’re not going to fund all of those asks.”
New Tecumseth trustee Sarah Beitz asked about the future of enrolment growth.
“We’re probably looking at an increase next year of 2.2 per cent, based on projected enrolment,” said assistant manager of enrolment Richard Hodgkinson.
