Fewer pupils needn't mean fewer schools: report
Last Updated: Monday, November 9, 2009 | 9:33 PM ET
CBC News
A parents' group is telling Ontario's Education Ministry that declining enrolment at schools shouldn't necessarily mean closures.
A report released Monday by People for Education says 172 schools across the province will be closed or are recommended to close by 2012, while a further 163 are facing reviews for possible closure.
This year, 32 schools in Ontario are on the block — twice as many as in 2008, according to the report.
But Education Minister Kathleen Wynne disputed the number of schools the group said were slated to close.
At the same time Wynne said her ministry does not have a solid count of how many schools are on the chopping block, saying that's a moving number.
While the province is looking increasingly at closing schools as enrolment slips with declining fertility rates, the report — titled School Closings and Declining Enrolment in Ontario — says school closures will affect more than just the students.
"Schools can, if they're supported, act as kind of hubs of communities, and if you suddenly take that school away, you end up with kind of a hole in your community," said Annie Kidder, executive director of People for Education.
Elementary school enrolment has declined 15 per cent since 1997, while there are 14 per cent fewer students in secondary schools now than there were in 2002, the report said.
Kidder's group wants the province to change its funding policy, which it calls outdated.
The amount of funding schools get now is based largely on how many students they have.
But Ontario is using the 1997 enrolment average in its funding formula, and has not considered the declining number of students, People for Education said.
Elementary schools, for example, had an average of 365 students in 1997, but now only have 310 students on average.
While the province has tried to help the situation by offering grants to offset declining enrolment, it must use 2009 numbers in its funding policy to make a meaningful difference, the report said.
Call for multi-purpose schools
Ursula Franklin Academy in Toronto has only 500 students, and was up for review a few years ago.
The high school survived that test, but the co-chair of the school advisory council is concerned it may not make it past the next review because of what she calls Ontario's one-size-fits-all approach.
"We've got enough funding for our school body, it's all functioning fine, we're running along tickety-boo, but you look at it on paper and they go, 'Oh my goodness, a high school of only 500 people? That doesn't make sense,'" said Meg Masters.
Kidder said that with additional support and funding, small schools like Ursula Franklin could become multi-purpose buildings where health-care services, libraries, and other resources would located just down the hall from classrooms.
"That's exactly what we're attempting to do ... we're doing what we can to make it clear to the system that we expect this to happen" said Wynne of the idea to make schools into a "hub" of services for children, families and youth.
With files from The Canadian Press
