Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services

Chapter 6: Elementary and Secondary Education
Boards should also consider changing the grade configuration at some underused schools to
make better use of existing facilities. Schools with excess capacity are still subject to the same
fixed costs of school operations, such as utilities and maintenance. Because space is
underused, however, the schools do not receive enough per-pupil funding through basic
foundation grants to cover these fixed costs. To address this problem, the ministry provides
boards with top-up funding, estimated at $237 million for the 2011–12 school year, for costs
associated with excess space in underutilized schools. 37
This may be practical in the short term, but does not provide an adequate incentive for school
boards to seek innovative solutions. An increasingly widespread solution is the consolidation
of Grades 7 through 12 in one secondary school. The number of secondary schools in Ontario
that also serve Grade 7 and 8 students in the same facility has grown in recent years,
especially since the Ontario Academic Credit (Grade 13) was eliminated. Using excess
secondary school space to house Grades 7 and 8 offers a practical use of existing resources.
The <strong>Commission</strong> recognizes that decisions about school organization in specific communities
are better left to locally elected school boards. However, in a period of fiscal restraint,
the Grade 7–12 model can provide capital savings by improving the use of space.
Recommendation 6-25: The province should no longer provide top-up funding to
underutilized secondary schools if these schools could instead accommodate some or all of
the Grade 7 and 8 students in their catchment area.
The transfer of Grade 7 and 8 students in some communities would, as a consequence,
accelerate the consolidation of elementary schools. The transfer of Grade 7 and 8 students to
secondary schools should not be used by boards as a rationale for receiving additional top-up
funding at the elementary level.
We understand that this configuration may increase transportation costs in some cases.
However, savings from staffing, school operations and capital renewal will overwhelmingly
offset such costs. In some cases, it is more cost-efficient for boards to make minor capital
additions to secondary schools to enable the Grade 7–12 configuration, and thus consolidate
more elementary schools.
37 Ministry of Education, “Grants for Student Needs Technical Paper 2011–12,” downloaded from
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/funding/1112/technical11.pdf, p. 95.
233