Toronto school trustees launched a media frenzy when the underfunded Toronto District School Board (TDSB) passed a motion to do an inventory report of all schools and determine whether school sites can be severed and sold off.
“I think it’s been blown out of all proportion and misrepresented. The publicity has been that the school board is going to dismantle the playgrounds, which is absolute nonsense,” Irene Atkinson of the Parkdale-High Park ward told The Epoch Times.
For now, the report will outline the value of each school’s property. Evaluations of the proposed schools will follow. Land evaluations will assess everything from drainage of the land and utility conduits to methane gas deposits; they also come with a $25,000 price tag.
“We have no idea of what land we own and where,” said Sheila Ward of the Toronto Centre-Rosedale ward. Toronto has some 600 schools that could potentially have their land severed resulting in millions of dollars in funds.
Ward explained that some land, like the recently closed Regent Park/Duke of York Public School, is said by industry specialists to be worth $26 million.
“We should have done [the inventory] a long, long, long time ago,” she said. The inventory report could be ready as early as November.
Some trustees believe that there are no adverse effects to having school land severed. Atkinson said that the board is going to focus on the Scarborough area where select schools have property ranging from 12 to 17 acres.
Ward agreed that some schools have land that can be put to better use. One school in the North York area occupies 22 acres. “If we build a new football field and a soccer pitch and put tennis courts in ... we still wouldn’t use up half the land that’s there,” she said.
Trustee Pamela Gough with the Etobicoke-Lakeshore ward said the decision to put together the report is “a movement of desperation” which needs to be scrutinized. She was also concerned that the communities haven’t had opportunity for input.
According to Gough, the decision to go ahead with the report was passed under a breached consultation policy. Conditions like the agreement of the local trustee, the councillor, and the communities were taken out of the conditions of passing the motion, she said.
Instead, the advisory committee approached TDSB and asked to defer the action on the report until the community has been informed, said Gough.
“The school yards are green spaces in our communities and our rapidly urbanizing metropolitan area,” said Gough, who has a background in environmental science.
“Once those green spaces are gone, they are gone forever.”
Gough noted however that the district is facing a critical funding gap and needs to take decisive measures.
Community Should Decide
Trustee Chris Glover of the Etobicoke Centre ward said that the decision should be in the hands of the community. “I think the community has to decide whether this is a way for the school board to raise money—it’s their property.”
The TDSB set up an arms-length agency, Toronto Lands Corporation, to handle the real estate of the board. Once school land is severed it’s handed over to the agency through a motion.
Then, according a specific pecking order outlined by the province, the land is first available to the French Public School Board, then the English Catholic School Board, then the French Catholic School Board, and so on.
Boards have a 90-day period to express interest in the land before it’s open for public sale.
The Toronto Lands Corporation has had some successful sales in the past that included selling to public institutions, but there’s no promise the land will stay in the hands of the city.
Atkinson said communities have nothing to worry about. “There will be no adverse effects on school programming or community amenities.”
Toronto schools are facing an operating deficit as well as a maintenance backlog. According to one of the district’s budget reports, the city is facing a $108 million structural deficit that has been partly resolved. The district is also facing a reported $3 billion maintenance backlog.
Money from property sales cannot be used to fund operations, but could be applied to the maintenance backlog or other capital projects.
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