Education Minister defends move to close under-utilized schools
Posted Mar 30, 2012 05:28:01 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The McGuinty government wants to close under-utilized schools but cannot say how many are on the chopping block or where the schools are located.
Education Minister Laurel Broten is defending the move to end $70-million in annual subsidies for those schools.
Broten says enrolment is down and it does not make financial sense to keep the buildings open.
“We cannot subsidized schools that are at less than optimal capacity – some of them are at half capacity or less – and heat those buildings and turn the lights on every single day,” explained Broten.
“Using our school buildings efficient is something that requires an extensive conversation with our partners in education and with out partners in community and with our municipal partners.”
Broten said the school boards have one year to decide which schools close.
NDP education critic Peter Tabuns said demographic waves come and go.
“We have large numbers of children go into schools, kids get older, we have lower numbers for a while and then a larger number comes back,” he explained.
“The reality that I have seen in my riding in Riverdale, schools that were going to be closed because there were too few students, a few years later are packed because young families have moved into the area.”
Tabuns said once you lose that real estate, boards will have to bus kids to other schools, once again driving up costs.
