From now until January 31, 2024, the Government of Ontario is conducting their pre-budget consultations. They are looking to hear from workers, families, business owners and communities on what they would like to see in the 2024 Budget. This is your opportunity to shape provincial priorities and let your voice be heard.
The SPACE Coalition continues to focus our budget recommendations on making school spaces and facilities affordable, welcoming, accessible and equitable for all of Ontarians. We believe with some modest and specific investments, the Government of Ontario can activate school facilities outside of the regular school day, make them accessible, and leverage Ontario’s nonprofit sector.
Recommendations
The SPACE Coalition urges the Government of Ontario to immediately invest an additional $19.44 million to capitalize on the existing investment in community use of schools and related programs. These new funds will be comprised of:
- $3 million to the core Community Use of Schools (CUS) program (i.e., 10% increase to the 2023/24 approved allocation).
- $7.04 million to support school board-led community outreach.
- $8.25 million to support free/low-cost permits in high needs neighbourhoods.
- $1.15 million to Focus on Youth program (i.e., restore it to the 2018/19 funding level and add a 10% inflationary increase).
We further recommend that the Government of Ontario take a system-wide approach to addressing community use of schools by:
- Providing school boards with dedicated funding to retrofit aging school facilities to meet accessibility standards.
- Establishing a home in government to efficiently work with the over 58,000 nonprofits, charities and grassroots groups in Ontario.
Read our full pre-budget submission here.
Add Your Voice
Use our submission or our briefing note, Moving Forward: Maximizing Community Use of School Spaces, to craft your own submission!
Send your own submission to the Ministry of Finance by January 31:
- Take the survey
- Submit your written ideas via the submission portal
- Mail your submission to:
The Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy
Minister of Finance
c/o Budget Secretariat
Frost Building North, 3rd floor
95 Grosvenor Street
Toronto ON M7A 1Z1
Find out more about the 2024 Budget Consultations.