Half-empty schools costing TDSB millions

The Toronto District School Board is missing out on millions of dollars in development charges and the province is considering changing the rules to help the cash-strapped board access the funds.

A provincial bylaw dictates that school boards that are operating below capacity aren’t eligible to collect Education Development Charges, the money that developers pay into the school system when they build new sites. But after struggling for years with declining enrollment, most of Ontario’s school boards – 46 out of 72 – are operating partly empty schools, and can’t collect badly needed dollars from developers.

The City of Toronto recently approved 7,000 new condo units, and while the Toronto Catholic District School Board will collect nearly $5.9-million from those developments, the public board will get nothing. TDSB trustees estimate that recently approved projects alone account for $50-million in lost potential income.  (more...)

Half-empty schools costing TDSB millions

H/T to Socialist Studies