Chair statement on funding of new Upper Stoney Creek elementary school
Board Chair Dawn Danko has issued the statement below regarding today’s announcement by the Ontario government regarding funding for a new school in the Nash community of Upper Stoney Creek. Please see the full announcement below.
Media Release, MPP Donna Skelly
ONTARIO INVESTING IN STUDENTS IN HAMILTON
Investment Will Support Access to Quality Education Opportunities for Working Families
Published on December 06, 2021
HAMILTON – The Ontario government is investing nearly $23 million to build a new elementary school in Upper Stoney Creek, create a new addition at Guardian Angels Catholic School in Flamborough, and add new child care spaces at Ecole Elementaire Public Pavillon de la jeunesse in Hamilton. Announced by Donna Skelly, MPP for Flamborough-Glanbrook, who was joined by Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education, these investments are part of the Ford government’s commitment to building modern and technologically connected schools and accessible child care spaces for working families.
The investments include a new $16.7 million Nash – Upper Stoney Creek Public School, which will create 650 elementary student spaces, 49 new licensed child care spaces and 3 new child care rooms. “This is great news for our community,” said MPP Donna Skelly. This investment will provide choice and flexibility for families and new opportunities for children in Upper Stoney Creek.”
“This is welcome news for students and families living in the Nash community said Dawn Danko, Chair of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board. “We thank the Ontario government for their investment in a new modern facility that will replace Tapleytown Elementary School and provide a new child care centre.”
The Ontario government is also investing $4.5 million to build an addition to Guardian Angels Catholic Elementary School in Flamborough. The investment will create 118 student spaces, 49 new licensed child care spaces and 3 new child care rooms. “The additional four regular and one full day kindergarten classrooms and 49 new child care spaces are much needed and will be of tremendous benefit to the Guardian Angels Catholic Community, said Patrick Daly, Chair of the Hamilton Wentworth Catholic District School Board. “We are most grateful to MPP Donna Skelly for her continued strong support and successful advocacy efforts in the best interest of our Catholic School System.”
Forty nine new child care spaces are also being created at Ecole Elementaire Publique Pavillon de la jeunesse in Hamilton with an investment of $1.6 million.
The projects in Hamilton are part of a recently announced province-wide investment of more than $600 million to support new school and child care spaces. “In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have made safer schools a priority, which is why we continue to invest in modern and accessible learning spaces with improved ventilation,” said Minister Lecce. “This investment is part of our multiyear plan to build, expand and update schools and child care spaces across our province. It will leave a lasting legacy that benefits working families for years to come.”
Quick Facts:
- On November 4, the province released the 2021 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review: Build Ontario. The plan lays out how the government will build the foundation for Ontario’s recovery and prosperity by getting shovels in the ground on projects like new schools and child care.
- Since 2018, the Ontario government has invested over $1.5 billion in capital projects in education, including 76 new schools, 75 additions and renovations to existing facilities and 4,908 new licensed child care spaces.
- For 2021-22, the province is also providing school boards with $1.4 billion in funding to renew and maintain existing schools.
- The governments of Canada and Ontario are providing $656.5 million in funding for critical infrastructure projects to protect students and staff from COVID-19 in the province’s schools through the COVID-19 Resilience stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.
- The federal government provides 2.5 per cent of the total cost support for early learning and child care operating expenses in Ontario, with Ontario families, the provincial and municipal governments providing the rest.
- Ontario has provided free emergency child care for the school-aged children of frontline workers, including public safety and health care workers, as well as those working with vulnerable populations. In 2021, this program provided over 12 thousand children with high-quality child care each day across 717 sites.
- Ontario is providing a 20 per cent enhancement of the Childcare Access and Relief from Expenses (CARE) tax credit for 2021. This will increase support from $1,250 to $1,500 per family, on average, providing about $75 million in additional support for the child care expenses of over 300 thousand families.
Updated on Monday, December 06, 2021.