Developers should help pay to expand overcrowded schools, councillor says

Mike Layton wants council to ask province for a rule change that would allow TDSB to collect levies from builders.

Thestar.com
Nov. 7, 2017
By Andrea Gordon

Toronto's public school board must be allowed to collect levies from developers to help pay for expanding overcrowded schools, Councillor Mike Layton says.

It's "a no-brainer" that builders should contribute to costs of school infrastructure in the city's fastest-growing neighbourhoods, says Layton, the latest to join the chorus demanding changes to rules surrounding "education development charges."

Under current rules, the Toronto District School Board isn't permitted to collect one cent of those developer charges - even in areas where schools are so crammed that portable classrooms are the norm and children are being bused out of area.

Layton has joined TDSB trustees and parents in calling on the province to loosen restrictions on the charges, and on Wednesday, he will introduce a motion asking City Council to throw its support behind that request.

"Parents are saying that with all this new development, our schools are either crumbling or bursting, and we need to do something about that," he said in an interview Tuesday.

Layton and others argue it's unfair that the much smaller Toronto Catholic board collects the charges of roughly $1,400 per new residential unit, while the TDSB doesn't get a cent

They say the situation has unjustly penalized students and cost the public board hundreds of millions of dollars in potential revenue over the last few years that could have gone towards badly-needed school expansions.

Current rules stipulate that in order to collect education development charges, school boards must be fully enrolled. TDSB is one of the few Ontario boards that isn't eligible because it is under capacity in certain areas of the city.

But Layton says it doesn't make any sense to not fund news schools "until they close schools halfway across town."

Trustee Marit Stiles says the TDSB has gone through a painful process of shuttering schools and rejigging boundaries to make the most of its space but has little wiggle room left because many that are currently half empty are in areas of projected high growth over the next few years.

Parents and trustees also want the province to loosen restrictions on how the education charges can be spent, allowing them to be used for repairs and additions rather than just for acquiring new property.

Jammed schools have caused havoc in areas targeted by city planners for intensification such as Willowdale and the Yonge and Eglinton region

Last week, a Willowdale public forum on the topic with Education Minister Mitzie Hunter attracted an audience of almost 300.

Hunter has said she is open to discussing the charges, but any changes would have province-wide impact, including on the costs of new housing.

The province provides funding for new schools through its capital budget each year.