Repair backlog puts not just Ontario’s aging schools at risk, but also our unique heritage, experts warn
“Perfect storm” of inadequate provincial funding, politics and old buildings is behind a repair backlog that has tripled in the past 15 years to a whopping $16 billion for Ontario schools, symposium hears.

TheStar.com
April 8, 2018
Andrea Gordon

The leaky roofs, crumbling walls and broken furnaces plaguing Ontario schools aren’t just bad for students and teachers. They also erode local heritage, warn experts in architectural conservancy.

That was the message at a symposium Saturday that brought together education and conservation advocates to explore their common goals when it comes to caring for the province’s school buildings.

“If you defer maintenance enough, you end up having to replace schools,” says Catherine Nasmith, president of the Toronto chapter of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.

The group wants more consideration given to the historical and architectural value of schools that are in disrepair or slated for rebuilding, as well as underused properties that boards are under financial pressure from the province to sell.

The forum on schools was a first for the organization and highlighted the overlapping interests among parent groups, school boards and the conservancy.

“It’s a new conversation for us,” said Nasmith. “We’ve been working on this from different perspectives.”

Speakers blamed a “perfect storm” of inadequate provincial funding, politics and old buildings for a repair backlog that has tripled in the past 15 years to a whopping $16 billion for Ontario schools.

In 2016, the Ministry of Education announced additional funding of $1.1 billion over two years for school repairs, bringing the total to $2.7 billion.

But advocates and boards noted while it would cover annual maintenance needs, it wasn’t enough to make inroads into the backlog.

Years of chronic underfunding has left school boards unable to catch up or plan, and limited to addressing the most dire problems, Krista Wylie, co-founder of the grassroots organization Fix Our Schools, told the meeting Saturday.

“They are not choices between good and better,” she said. “They are choices between bad and worse.”

Fix Our Schools is among many groups, including the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, teacher unions and most recently Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, who argue the province’s 20-year-old education funding formula is at the root of major problems in the sector, from failing infrastructure to the shortage of special education supports.

The organization has also launched a drive for the provincial election campaign urging parents to raise the problem of falling-down schools with their local political candidates.

Local developments involving Kent Public School at Bloor and Dufferin, now closed, and Davisville Public School in North Toronto are among those that have raised concern among groups anxious to protect some of the schools’ unique architecture.

They warn that new buildings are unlikely to be as high quality under the current funding regime, and say selling off century-old assets won’t cover the costs of new ones.

Aging infrastructure has become an particularly thorny issue for the Toronto District School Board, which faces a repair backlog of more than $4 billion.

Canada’s largest board operates 11 per cent of school buildings in Ontario, Steve Shaw, executive officer of facilities, services, sustainability and planning, told the forum.

Among other statistics he shared:

• The average age of TDSB’s 547 school buildings is 62 years — almost twice the provincial average.
• For roofs alone, an estimated $80 million is needed to fix those considered in urgent need of repair.
• Almost a quarter of TDSB schools have old steam boiler furnace systems that require specialized staff, with most exceeding their recommended life cycles by 25 years. At the current rate of investment, it would take another 35 years to replace them.