CURRENT PRIORITIES OF THE SCDSB

Advocate to the Province of Ontario to:

1. Approve the building of more schools from the SCDSB Capitol Priorities List. 

    The building of new schools is approved and paid for by the province of Ontario.  School boards upon request are asked to

    submit a ranked list of most pressing needs of the board. The last list submitted prior to the provincial election with our top        ten priorities resulted in NONE being approved to proceed.  Unfortunately, Simcoe County District School Board is not alone in

    a desperate need for more schools.  

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2.  Increase the Education Development Charges (EDC) on New Development

    The EDC is the amount of funds generated from new building developments in order to support the purchase of lands for

    new school sites. In 2018 The SCDSB completed an extensive review process that had determined that a significant increase

    was required to be able to have sufficient funds to purchase properties that are ever increasing in value and cost. However

    the province froze EDC rates in 2018 and have allowed only limited yearly increases since then. Therefore the funds collected

    will no longer cover the cost of future land purchases. 

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3.  Create a New Funding Formula for Busing

   The province of Ontario has been reviewing for close to a decade the current formula it uses to determine the allotted 

    amount that school boards receive each year to cover the costs associated with busing students.  This allocation is not

    sufficient to cover the rising costs related to busing. The SCDSB working through the Simcoe County Transportation

    Consortium that oversees busing for both the SCDSB and the SMCDSB has worked hard to find savings though bell time

    efficiencies thereby allowing buses to make multiple runs each morning and afternoon. This process does have limits

    however, and a long delayed new funding formula is needed.  

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