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 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.

In July 2020, the Ministry of Education announced that two of the 10 projects submitted by the TDSB under the 2019-20 Capital Priorities Grant funding program were approved. The two approved projects are: 

• Hodgson MS: funding to expand the previously approved addition by seven additional classrooms to accommodate the rapid shifts in local demographics and residential development in the community. The additional funding allocated by the Ministry is $12.45 million.
• McKee Public School: funding to build three additional classrooms to accommodate the enrolment pressures in the area. The total funding for this project is $1.48 million.

Below is the list of the 10 TDSB Capital Priority projects ranked to align with the criteria set out by the Ministry of Education and submitted in September 2019 for consideration:

List of Capital Priority Projects

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