Province More Than Doubles Funding to Build New Schools, Faster
WELLAND – The Ontario government is investing $15.4 million in the District School Board of Niagara to expand Fitch Street Public School in Welland, supporting local working families.
This investment will support the creation of 205 student spaces and forty-nine licensed child care spaces as part of the government's commitment to building state-of-the-art learning spaces for Ontario students.
"This funding to expand Fitch Street Public School in Welland is great news for Niagara," said Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West.
"This local investment will ensure families and students have access to a quality learning environment in the years ahead."
The project is part of a $1.3 billion investment to support new school construction and expansions to existing schools, including child care spaces, announced by Hon. Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education, as part of the Capital Priorities Program.
The overall investment, which is the highest ever made in a single year, supports the creation of more than 27,000 new student spaces and more than 1,700 licensed child care spaces at schools across Ontario.
"Welland is a flourishing city and proud home to thousands of outstanding students who learn and grow together in our amazing schools," said Sue Barnett, Chair of the District School Board of Niagara.
"We are grateful to the Ministry of Education for investing in this essential addition as it will allow us to ensure that we are meeting the needs of families who are here now, and families we know will be joining Fitch Street Public School in the future."
"I applaud the province for this significant investment for the expansion of Fitch Street Public School," said Frank Campion, Mayor of the City of Welland.
"This expansion will provide the facilities students require and deserve and create a healthy learning environment."
"Our government is more than doubling the funding to build new schools, which represents the single largest investment in school building in Ontario history," said Minister Lecce.
"We are stepping up with a massive investment to build the homes, schools, and communities our province needs, and to ensure children have access to state-of-the-art schools close to home that gives them real life and job skills to succeed in the future. I want to reiterate my thanks to MPP Oosterhoff for his relentless advocacy for local families in Niagara."
Ontario’s government unveiled a new plan to build faster, including providing school boards with more flexibility and support to get shovels in the ground quicker and have more options to use existing buildings in their communities. These changes are part of the government’s plan to ensure that the public education system focuses on what matters most: important life-long skills such as reading, writing and math; improving accountability and transparency for parents and families; and maximizing capital assets.
"Our government is investing in new schools and improved infrastructure across the province to support the needs of Ontario's students, families, and growing communities," said Hon. Kinga Surma, Minister of Infrastructure.
"These are part of our historic investment of more than $190 billion over the next ten years to build and deliver the critical infrastructure Ontarians deserve today, and for future generations to come."
The 2024 Budget: Building a Better Ontario continues to support the province's work being delivered in the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act to build schools faster and better use taxpayer-funded assets.
Highlights of the projects include:
Quick Facts:
In December 2023, the Ministry of Education announced Ontario's plan to help build schools faster through a transparent, accountable and more efficient process. In the recent Capital Priorities round, school boards were encouraged to standardize the design of new school construction, identify opportunities to work together on joint-use school projects, and bring forward shovel ready proposals.
Since 2018, the Ontario government has invested more than $3.6 billion in capital construction projects in education, including 139 new schools, 109 additions and renovations to existing facilities, creating more than 98,000 student spaces and over 8,000 new licensed child care spaces.
For the 2024-25 school year, the province is providing school boards with approximately $1.4 billion in funding to revitalize and renew aged building systems and components.
The investment is part of Ontario's commitment to provide about $16 billion to support new school construction, repair, and renewal over ten years.
The Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, 2023, ensures the public education system focuses on what matters most: Teaching important lifelong skills such as reading, writing and math; improving accountability and transparency for parents and families; maximizing capital assets of boards to support building modern schools faster and better utilizing current school capacity.
Ontario secured a $13.2 billion agreement with the federal government that will lower fees for families to an average of $10 a day for children under the age of six under the Canada wide Early Learning and Child Care system.
Media Contact | Michael Zwiep | michael.zwiep@pc.ola.org