The Ontario government announced that it is introducing measures to cut construction timelines of new schools by nearly 50 per cent to meet the unprecedented pace of growth across the province.
The province says that the average school construction timeline is 4-7 years, which comes from an obsolete capital process that has not been meaningfully overhauled since 2010-11.
“It is no longer acceptable for schools to take a decade to be built,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce stated in a news release.
Construction will be speeded up through “design standardization, reduced approval requirements and increased transparency and accountability”, the minister added.
Standardizing designs of new schools will reduce school board planning time and mitigate scheduling delays, according to Ontario’s Ministry of Education.
School boards will also follow a more streamlined process to identify and dispose of unused property, generate more revenue to reinvest back in schools, create schools in mixed-use buildings like condominiums and use existing buildings in their communities.
These measures have been incorporated into this year’s (2023-24) Capital Priorities Program as well as through new regulation that takes effect December 31.
The reforms are expected to address the changing needs of the province and ensure that Ontario is building schools faster and better utilizing taxpayer dollars effectively, bringing more and improved accountability and transparency for parents and families.
