Is the TLC worth it?

“The Toronto Lands Corporation was created in September 2007 and incorporated in April 2008 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Toronto District School Board.  The TLC’s mission is to maximize the Toronto District School Board’s real estate revenues in order to reinvest in TDSB schools and students.”

Thus says the Mandate statement of the TLC but does it do what it says.

The Board saw it as a way to sell off the twenty to thirty school properties that it was planning to close for big bucks. But where are those big bucks?

The TLC was created in the hope that blame for the sell off of our community’s assets could be deflected from the trustees who have the final say. But that will not happen. Communities will remember, as the condominiums are being built, that when their local trustee pushed them to agree to close a viable local school that trustee vowed to fight to keep the neighbourhood green space. They may not remember ten or twenty years from now as portables are eating up the playing fields of their children’s school that those condominiums replaced the school that they so desperately need now.

As far as I can see, on its web site there is no real assessment of how beneficial the TLC is to the Board. Oh, yes it does manage some pools and leases but that could have been done by a couple of Board employees earning under $50,000 a year like it used to be. CEO Hoy makes a reported $200,000.

So where is the value for money audit of the TLC. According to my reading of its 2011-12 proposed budget the TLC will actually cost the Board 1,739,018 to opperate this year.

You might argue that it is too soon for that. You could say wait until some properties are sold. But how long can we wait? It has been almost five half a years now.

Most of the sales they have made were to public bodies like the city and the Catholic Board. But those bodies have a right under the Education Act to buy them before they are offered to the public. So the TLC did not improve the Boards revenue in those transactions. I believe that most if not all of the $150 million dollars in sales that the TLC boasts about since 2008 could have been collected without the fancy, expensive and politically amorphous body.

It looks like only about 20 acres or so have actually been sold to the private market. Is that a justification for the operation of the expensive TLC? I think not.

But who am I?

I am not one of those who want the Board to sell off as much land as possible in spite of its own predictions of increasing enrolment needs. I am someone who believes that the lands that the Board owns are irreplaceable valuable assets. I am out of step with the program.

Now your could argue that there will be 20 or so schools down the line to sell of and more as the board ramps up its school closing process again. But the political opposition to that is growing and there may not be enough closings in the future.

So prove me wrong. So let’s hold a real audit of the TLC.

Year end message

I believe that every residential neighbourhood should have an elementary school within a safe reasonable distance so that it can make education as accessible as possible to the greatest number of people.

That is why I will fight against the closing of community schools in the City ofToronto.

Two simple statements are the reason this blog exists.

But we know that in spite of the TDSB’s own figures predicting that the Board will run out of elementary spaces in the near future, it is committed to using small dips in student populations in vulnerable areas, to close as many schools as possible.

This does not make sense to most people.

The Board believes that fewer schools cost less to run and up keep and that it can earn some small windfalls by selling off some of the vast amounts of vacant schools.

But this is not only short sighted, it is stupid.

It is stupid because it will mean that elementaryTorontoschools of the future will have more portables, strained facilities and fewer safe and accessible places for children to learn in. It is stupid because it means that the richness of our public assets will be sold off permanently for temporary gain and private profit.

It is just plain stupid.

What needs to happen is a clear provincial commitment to adequate funding.

Until that happens, the Board should be resisting closing and selling schools; but it won’t.

It is up to us, the communities ofTorontoto resist any closing like we did in Jane and Finch.

Have a great holiday.

Errol Young

Its school closing season again

From People for Education

SCHOOLS CLOSING ACROSS THE PROVINCE

Across Ontario, there are approximately 130 schools either slated or recommended to close over the next two to three years. And a number of boards have announced the formation of new Accommodation Review Committees.

People for Education has been keeping track of school closings for a number of years and we need your help. Please check out the accommodation review/school closing data base  on our website and let us know if it’s up to date.  Send any updates toinfo@peopleforeducation.ca.

Comment

School closings feel local. “Why are you closing my local school?”

It always feels like something is wrong with your local community but school closing is always a board wide program.  your board must want to close a number of schools not just yours. It would be nice if trustees did object but they do not.

 

They do not object for a number of reasons, personal right wing political agendas, perceived responsibilities or fear of the provincial retaliation.

But, in reality, school closing is a provincial initiative that uses the funding formula to pressure boards to take this action and the threat of power removing superintendency to enforce it.

We need to fight this locally, Board-wide and province-wide.

A tale of two schools and a right wing board

Two schools will probably close next year in spite of a clearly unfair process and rising enrolments.

This is because the trustees are committed to closing as many schools as possible and selling off the land to satisfy their right wing philosophy of shrinking public assets regardless of the social consequences or the needs of the system and their pandering to their Provincial masters.

Were the trustees to reopen these issues and keep the schools open they would have to do it for all the schools they just voted to close.

And next year, those growing enrolment numbers will make it almost impossible for them to have their school closing fun.

Throughout the A.R.C. process from 2009 through to 2011, declining enrolment was argued as the main reason for the need to close schools but recent data released from the Board shows that the ten year dip in enrolment is over and the number of children needing school accommodation is back on the rise for the next 20 years at least. In fact, there are areas of the city, such asThorncliffeParkin Don Mills, where school overcrowding is the norm.

But close these schools must to keep the maniacal political orientation of our trustees true.

A by-election – woopee

So the Board decided to have two by-elections for the vacated seats February 27^th.

It could have saved $500,000 by appointing but if it had done that, it would have symbolically devalued their positions.

Trustees think that they are similar to other elected officials but they are not. Yes they are elected but no they have no real control over any taxing power.

You heard the expression, “no taxation without representation,” that fuelled the American Civil war. Well the opposite is true. No true representation without taxation powers.

Trustees have no taxing powers. All their money comes from the provincial funding formula. It is the Province that calls the shots because the province pays for everything.

But trustees are elected. This is an anachronism held over from before 1997 when they had real control over partToronto’s property tax.

Since trustees have to, by law, balance their budgets and that budget amount is set by the province trustees have little or no power to do anything creative.

All the family centres, pools, daycares etc. were set up before 1997 and so are not funded now by the province.

So there is pressure on the Board to cut back on them.

NowToronto’s parents and residents voted for trustees who supported all that stuff.

So now, those people are not getting represented at the Board. The only representation there is the Province because it pays the full amount.

So there will be elections. How quaint.

Let’s hope there will be some progressive people elected so that the Board starts to show some resistance to the provincial cuts like school land sales.

Brooks Road Fights Back‏

Over forty parents and grandparents spoke out in defence of their neighbourhood school to Chris Spence, Director of Education and Trustte Jerry Chadwick.

The meeting at1:00 pmon Friday afternoon in the school gym began with an apology from Spence for his earlier postponement of the meeting.   Although some of the parents had missed work on both dates to attend, no one expressed resentment for the inconvenience.  Instead, many thanked the Director and the Trustee for coming.

Civil but very lively were characteristics of the discussion that followed.

The Director said he and Trustee Chadwick were was there to listen and parents proceeded to give them an earful.

• They raised even more issues than their six spokespersons had addressed in deputations before the Programs and School Services Committee a week earlier.
• They challenged the assertions of declining enrolment in their neighbourhood and that ofRougeRiver  area in general. Brooks Roadis at 96% capacity with 400 pupils.
• They expressed concern for the outcome of their thriving French Immersion program if the school were to be closed.
• They pointed out the flaws and unfairness they observed in the A.R.C. process.

They especially valued the welcoming family atmosphere atBrooks Rd.

Although Spence had stated from the outset that he wouldn’t make any promises that day, both he and Chadwick were visibly moved by the sincerity of the remarks and very impressed with the turnout.

The large number of parents who left their workplaces to be present and that more than half got to their feet to comment on their school closing testified to a supposition rumoured earlier that any opposition in Brooks Road P.S. was coming from a small, very vocal but unrepresentative group.

After an hour of listening Spence got to his feet and stated he would be going back to staff for more information and that among all the comments made that day, those that people felt they had been treated unfairly were the ones that resonated with him the most.

He promised to get back to them but didn’t say when.

Both Spence and Chadwick were surrounded by parents still voicing concerns as they tried to leave.  If their purpose in coming had been to gauge the strength of the community’s opposition to losing it school, there can be no doubt in their minds.

Janet Bojti,  Campaign for Public Education

 

To elect or appoint – horns of a dilemma

Could trustees be asking for their own abolition?

With two trustees elevated by the electorate to MPPs the Board must now fill in the vacancies.

It has two choices:

1. Call for a by-election
2. Appoint two people

Neither are great options.

A by-election would have a very low turnout illustrating the publics apathy for the roll, be expensive and look self-indulgent (there is no sign of provincial enthusiasm for some monetary participation) and could result in the election of people who could be not with the regressive program that the rest of them are used to.

But appointing would be an admission that the trustee’s roll is not significant enough to warrant a by-election.

Given the above, will it be long before the Province realizes that it would be cheaper to just appoint trustees. That way,QueensParkcould be assured that there could be no board based to opposition its plan to cut educational services to the majority of students. It also completely cuts out the supposed “will” of the people that elections are supposed to express.

So, what’s a poor trustee supposed to do?

Trustee Goodman is proposing appointments.

He states that it could save $500,000; so much for his belief in “student, and parental engagement” that he quotes in his motion.

I would not want to be a trustee again or would I?

I am filling out my application as I type this because being a trustee these days is great: your time is your own, it’s all indoor work and, best of all, no heavy lifting.

Not like the time when trustees had real taxing and therefore decision-making powers

Board to close Regent park. No idea of how many kids will come out fo the new development.

Regent Park/Duke of York P.S. will be on the Planning and Priorities Committee meeting agenda tonight at7:00 pm.

Sadly there will be only one deputation to defend the school before the committee votes to send the A.R.C. recommendation on to the Board for a decision.

There were other changes in Ward 14.  Another elementary school reconfigured from JK to grade 6 to JK to grade 8.  Boundary changes everywhere.

The biggest change of all is the reconstruction of Nelson Mandela P.S. which was begun long before this A.R.C. started but used to justify closing Regent Park/Duke of York.  Declining enrolment was often cited as the reason for reducing the number of schools in ward 14.  Parents were assured that the money raised from the sale of school property made surplus paid for improvements to other neighbourhood schools- although not necessarily in their neighbourhood.

Recently declining enrolment was exposed as being only a temporary phenomenon.  The number of elementary school children is on the rise.

Furthermore, the community of Regent Park is undergoing a massive urban redevelopment.  The old low rise apartments and town homes are being replaced by new high rise and townhome developments.  Former residents in subsidized units were moved out to make way for demolition and construction. This urban renewal will go on to the end of this decade.

No one really knows what school space the Regent Park population will require by 2020.  Neither does the TDSB.  It’s a safe bet the community will need Regent Park/Duke of York P.S. when the construction of hundreds of new homes is finally completed.

Please come to the Planning and Priorities Committee meeting tonight at7:00 pmin Committee Room A at5050 Yonge St.to support the deputation for Regent Park/Duke ofYorkif you can make it.   (This meeting and its agenda was not posted on the Board’s website until five days ago.)

If the motion to close Regent Park/Duke of York passes tonight, it will go to Board for the final vote on Nov. 16th.

In Solidarity,

Janet Bojti, Campaign for Public Education

The Board is using the urban development mess to get an other school sold. 

The Director – To the rescue?

On Wednesday Nov. 9th at10:30 am, Chris Spence, Director of Education at the Toronto District School Board will visit and tourBrooks Rd.P.S.  He’s coming in response to the six people fromBrooks Rdwho made excellent deputations last week at one of the school trustees’ committees.

They all asked the TDSB to reconsider its decision to closeBrooks Rd.P.S.  Our spokespeople did an excellent job raising the issues.

They pointed out that the A.R.C. process was flawed and unfair, that enrolment atBrooks Rd.is not declining, and that the French Immersion program should not be destabilized by dividing it between two schools.

When the Director heard that the parents and children were asking the Board formally to reconsider its decision, he decided to come and see for himself.

A big turnout is going to be very important in helping him to make up his mind.  Although mid-morning is not a practical time for most parents who are at work during the day, to those who can make themselves available, please come and show your support forBrooks Rd.P.S.

Both Trustee Jerry Chadwick, and the Director will be looking to see how many parents, grandparents and neighbours show up and speak up for their neighbourhood school and that they don’t want to see Brooks Rd. P.S. close down.

No one knows what Chris Spence will say.

It’s unlikely he will make any announcements on Nov. 9th but he will be gauging the amount of support for the school.

He has been known to suspend A.R.C. recommendations if he believes a community sees their school closing as an inequitable decision.

Please come and encourage others to come too.

In Solidarity,

Janet Bojti, Campaign for Public Education

 

 

City Child Cares at risk

From: Lesley Johnston
Subject: update re: childcare issues
Sent: 4 Nov 2011 09:55
The General Manager of Childcare Services released a report today with the Community Development and Recreation Committee (City Council Committee that is in charge of childcare).

The report is about the impact of the transition to full day kindergarten.

But there are some alarming warnings in the report including: – Should the Province fail to provide additional resources to maintain the existing service level of 24,000 child care fee subsidies, there will be a need to gradually reduce subsidized spaces by 2,000 beginning in September 2012 (equivalent to $20,000 million).

Further reductions of approximately 600 subsidized spaces per annum (equivalent to $6 million) will be required until the annual provincial funding contributions are indexed to inflation.

A map showing a ward-by-ward impact of the reductions.

 

The full report can be found here: http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2011/cd/bgrd/backgroundfile-42007.pdf

The Community Development and Recreation Committee is receiving and debating the recommendations in the report at today’s meeting.