Ontario More Than Doubling Funding to Build New Schools

Historic investment will accelerate, build and expand more schools across the province

April 04, 2024

OAKVILLE —The Ontario government is investing a historic $1.3 billion to support the construction and expansion of 60 schools across the province. For the first time in the province’s history, the government is more than doubling the funding commitment to build more schools and expansions, which will create 27,093 new student spaces and 1,759 child care spaces.

The announcement was made by Education Minister Stephen Lecce in Oakville today alongside Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy and Parliamentary Assistants Natalie Pierre and Billy Pang.

“This $1.3 billion in funding represents the single largest investment in school building in Ontario’s history,” said Minister Lecce. “We are stepping up with a massive investment to build the homes, schools, and communities our province needs, and to ensure children have access to state-of-the-art schools close to home that give them real life and job skills to succeed in the future.”

This investment is part of the province’s plan to ensure that the public education system focuses on what matters most: important life-long skills such as reading, writing and math; improving accountability and transparency for parents and families; and maximizing capital assets.

“With Ontario’s population growing, we need to continue to build schools so students can learn close to home,” said Minister Bethlenfalvy. “This is part of our Plan to Build a Better Ontario by investing in infrastructure to get more homes, schools, hospitals, and highways built faster, attract better jobs with bigger paycheques, and keep costs down for families.”

Since 2018, the Ontario government has approved or supported the development of over 300 school-related projects including child care, of which more than 100 are actively under construction.

The 2024 Budget: Building a Better Ontario continues to support the province’s work being delivered in the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act to build schools faster and better use taxpayer-funded assets.

Quick Facts

In December 2023, the Ministry of Education announced Ontario’s plan to help build schools faster through a transparent, accountable and more efficient process. In the recent Capital Priorities round, school boards were encouraged to standardize the design of new school construction, identify opportunities to work together on joint-use school projects, and bring forward shovel-ready proposals.
Since 2018, the Ontario government has invested more than $3.6 billion in capital construction projects in education, including 139 new schools, 109 additions and renovations to existing facilities and over 8,000 new licensed child care spaces.
For the 2023-24 school year, the province is providing school boards with approximately $1.4 billion in funding to revitalize and renew aged building systems and components.
The investment is part of Ontario’s commitment to provide about $16 billion to support school construction, repair, and renewal over 10 years.
The Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, 2023 will ensure the public education system focuses on what matters most: teaching important life‑long skills such as reading, writing and math; improving accountability and transparency for parents and families; maximizing capital assets of boards to support building modern schools faster; and better utilizing current school capacity.