Ontario building and expanding schools to strengthen learning and increase child care access

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Published July 23, 2020 at 5:38 pm

dougford

At a July 23 conference, the Ontario government announced that it is investing over $500 million to build 30 new schools as well as make permanent additions to 15 existing facilities, supporting over 25,000 student spaces across the province.

The new schools will create a foundation for a 21st-century learning environment for thousands of students across Ontario and the investment will generate close to 900 new licensed child care spaces to ensure Ontario families are able to access child care in their communities. 

Today’s (July 23) announcement was provided by Premier Doug Ford and Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education.

“Our government is making a significant capital investment in our school system,” said Premier Ford.

“By making these smart investments today, we will ensure our students and teachers have access to modern facilities to learn with features like high-speed Internet, accessible ramps and elevators, and air conditioning while providing parents with access to more licensed child care spaces.”

The Ontario government is investing over $12 billion in capital grants over 10 years.

This includes more than $500 million invested in this year alone to build critical school capital projects and permanent additions.

The details of today’s announcement continue to build on the government’s commitment to invest up to $1 billion over five years to create up to 30,000 licensed child care spaces in schools, including 10,000 spaces in new schools.

Additionally, these new projects will result in the creation of new jobs in the skilled trades as over $500 million of major infrastructure projects break ground in short order.

“It is unacceptable that too many schools in our province continue to lack the investment that our students deserve,” said Minister Lecce.

“That is why this government is making a significant investment to build new schools, to extensively renovate existing schools, and expand access to licensed child care spaces in our province. Our government is modernizing our schools, our curriculum, and the delivery of learning, to ensure students are set up to succeed in an increasingly changing world.”

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