Capital Priorities Program 2019-2020

School boards can apply for funding for construction projects from the Ministry of Education through the Capital Priorities program. This program provides school boards with an opportunity to identify their most urgent student accommodation needs and submit business cases for their priority projects.

In July 2019, the Ministry of Education announced a Capital Priorities program for 2019-2020. The last opportunity for school boards to identify Capital Priority projects was in 2017-2018.

In this round of funding, school boards across Ontario were permitted to submit ten business cases that outline their most urgent capital projects. To be considered for approval, eligible projects had to meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Addressing accommodation pressures
• Replacing schools in poor condition
• Supporting school closure decisions from past Pupil Accommodation Reviews
• Providing facilities for French-language rights holders in under-served areas (increasing access to francophone schools operated by the French language school boards – this does not apply to the TDSB)
• Creating child care spaces in schools

Not all of the capital projects submitted to the Ministry of Education receive funding approval. The Ministry reviews the business cases submitted by all school boards and allocates funds to the projects it considers priorities. Historically, the TDSB has received approval for three to six capital projects in a round of the Capital Priorities process.

TDSB’s Capital Priority projects are ranked to align with the criteria set out by the Ministry of Education. The following list of Capital Priority projects was submitted in September 2019 to the Ministry of Education for consideration:

Ranking	School Name	Project Description	Business Case Submitted to the Ministry	Ward
1	Hodgson MS	A 391 pupil place addition (expansion of a previously-approved addition)		11
2	Davisville Junior PS / Spectrum Alternative Senior School	A five-classroom addition to a previously-approved replacement school		8
3	Courcelette Public School	A revision to a previously-approved six-classroom addition		18
4, 5	Poplar Road Junior  Public School and Elizabeth Simcoe Junior Public School	A 387 pupil place replacement school at Poplar Road Junior Public School and a gymnasium addition and internal renovation at Elizabeth Simcoe Junior Public School to support implementation of a school closure as a result of the Guildwood area Pupil Accommodation Review		19
6	McKee Public School	A three-classroom addition		12
7	Regent Heights Public School	A 619 pupil place replacement school for Regent Heights Public School  and a 461 pupil place JK-6 school for Conseil scolaire Viamonde (joint venture)		18
8	David Lewis Public School	An eight-classroom addition		20
9	St. Margaret's Public School	A 340 pupil place replacement school		19
10	Secord Elementary School	A 931 pupil place replacement school		16